Entangled
by LittletonPace
Summary: *OFC Centric/alternate season 5* After rescue, Andie found herself a single mother to Aaron and her daughter with Sawyer, Jamie. Now faced with the prospect of returning to the Island, can Andie cope when danger threatens her family?
1. Chapter 1: In Motion

__

Hey all! This is season 5 of Lost with the inclusion of my original character, Andie Parker. I suggest you read my seasons 2-4 series (Beautifully Lost, Beautiful Disaster & Detrimental) of Andie to fully catch up with her tales on the Island, but if not, all you really need to know about her is that she was a friend of air hostess Cindy in Australia, she fell in love with Sawyer on the island even though she had a serious boyfriend, Nick, back home, she was Claire's closest friend on island and is now raising Aaron as well as her daughter with Sawyer, Jamie. So this of course makes her one of the Oceanic 7, lol. Enjoy!

**Chapter 1: In Motion**

The squealing of her children in the next room allowed Andie ten minutes to relax on the couch. They were in the downstairs playroom playing with Aaron's trains. He was just a few weeks from turning three and Jamie, now two, was playing with her large collection of teddy bears when Andie had left her. Drinking hot chocolate and thumbing through the latest _Harry Potter_ was Andie's idea of relaxing; and it was one of those rare occasions when she got to indulge in her childlike desires.

The last thing she expected was trouble.

So when she saw a heavy shadow cast in her hallway that was definitely too large to be her son or daughter; panic gripped Andie's heart. She dropped her book and sat bolt upright. The shadow was coming from the front door; on the other side of the playroom to where Andie was. Her gun was upstairs stashed high up in her closet; she'd have to go through the hall to get to the staircase. Instead; Andie crept to the kitchen and grabbed a carving knife from the drawer. The sounds of Aaron and Jamie laughing kept Andie's head sane as she knew they were alright; at least for now. She hurried into the hall and saw a figure slump into the nursery.

"Get the hell out of there!" Andie shrieked as she raised the knife. "You get the hell away from my children!"

"Andie..." A voice growled as the figured stumbled back into the hall against the wall.

"Sayid!" Andie cried. She stashed the knife on the top shelf of the bookcase beside her and hurried towards her friend.

"Mummy?" Aaron called fearfully from the playroom.

"It's ok, baby, it's ok." She assured him as she tried to get Sayid to his feet.

"Mummy!" He cried again; protectively holding Jamie's hand.

"You stay here with Jamie; ok?" Andie told him as she slid Sayid's arm around her shoulders and lifted him to his feet. "What the hell happened to you?" She asked him.

"I'm sorry..." He said tiredly as Andie lowered him onto her couch. "I had to come...I had to..."

"What happened?" She removed his jacket and saw a gaping wound in his shoulder. "What is this? Sayid; tell me what happened?" She asked him worriedly. Then she realized. "You did this for Ben, didn't you? He made you kill someone else." She turned away from Sayid; tears in her eyes.

"They killed Nadia." He told her; tears welling in his own eyes. "They all deserve to die."

Andie cupped Sayid's chin in both her hands. "You never used to think that." She told him sadly. "Wait here," She got to her feet. "I have to check on the kids."

****

xxx

An hour later; Andie had managed to get both Jamie and Aaron down to sleep. Sayid tended to his own wounds and now sat at Andie's kitchen table swigging on a bottle of vodka in just his stained singlet and jeans. He glanced at Andie as she came in. "Are they alright?"

"Aaron's worried about you." Andie admitted as she sat across from her friend. "I told him you'd explain everything in the morning," She pulled her knees up to her chest. "So you have until the morning to figure out a story. You can sleep down here in the guest room."

"You don't have to-" Sayid began.

"Yes, I do." Andie cut in. "That's why you came here." She leant towards him. "How long are you going to do this? Until they're all dead?" Sayid didn't answer her. "Come on; you can't-"

"What I do benefits everyone we left on that island." Sayid interrupted.

Andie sighed and leant her head in her hand. "I saw Jack last week." She mumbled. "He's not doin' so good since Kate and all..." She heaved another sigh. "He still wants me to go back."

"I want you to go back, too." Sayid reminded her.

"So does Sawyer." Andie mumbled uneasily.

"What?" Sayid was puzzled.

"I had a dream...but I don't think it was a dream. He was in Jamie's room; holding her." Andie could remember every detail of that night. "He told me he needed me to find him; to bring Jamie back to him."

"And you're still unsure whether or not to go back?" Sayid asked; unable to hide the slight sarcasm in his voice.

"I had a dream about Claire, too." Andie smiled tiredly. "She told me quite resolutely not to bring Aaron back." She shrugged her shoulders at Sayid. "What do I do? Who do I listen to? My best friend or my baby's father; both of which I have to raise a child for and both of which I have to pretend are dead!" She slammed an open hand down on the table; anger coursing through her faster than she'd expected.

"You don't have to listen to anyone." Sayid told her.

"Yeah..." She heaved a heavy sigh. "I'm going to bed. I'm upstairs if you need me."

****

xxx

As it turned out, Sayid didn't just stay for a couple of days. He was still there two weeks later. Ben had sutured up his arm just enough so he'd been able to get on a plane and fly back to the states but he had still been in quite a lot of pain. And for a soldier such as himself; that was a big deal.

Being around Andie, Aaron and Jamie made Sayid miss Nadia like crazy. They had never got the chance to enjoy their life and start a family before she was brutally taken away from him. That's why he was going to get his revenge, someday somehow he was going to make them pay.

Andie knew Sayid was benefiting from being around her children; the look in his eyes when he read to Jamie or helped Aaron build with his blocks was undeniable. He was happy. She was also grateful to have someone to help her out. Since Jamie and Aaron were both up and running around these days it was getting a lot harder for Andie to keep them organized; she barely had time to clean her teeth before one of them came running in with some sort of drama.

That morning, Andie was fixing breakfast as normal for her kids while Sayid read the paper at the kitchen table. "How interracial family are we right now?" She joked as she handed him a cup of coffee.

"Mama?" Jamie was calling from her high chair. "Mama? Mama? Mama? Mama?"

"Yes, baby?" Andie turned to her.

"Hi, mama!" She gurgled and tossed her head back laughing.

Andie chuckled. "Silly." Jamie had been talking non-stop for the past week or so.

"Sayid, look," Aaron's voice said as he came in from the living room still in his pyjamas. He was waving a drawing around in his hand. "I made for you." He climbed up on the chair across from Sayid and smacked the drawing down over Sayid's paper.

"Thank you, Aaron." Sayid told him lifting up the drawing. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

"That's you." He pointed to a brown scribble. "And me." He pointed to a smaller scribble with yellow hair. "And Jamie." He pointed to a round, pink circle. "And Mummy and Daddy." He pointed them out. "And Uncle Jack and Aunty Kate."

Andie always felt a pang through her heart when Aaron referred to Nick as Daddy. She knew eventually one day, she and Nick would have to explain the truth to him. 'How?' and 'when?' were two questions Andie still wasn't ready to answer.

"Up! Up!" Jamie was demanding waving her hands at her mother. She loved that word; she really liked emphasizing the 'p' with a smack of her lips.

Andie lifted her out of her chair and sat her on her hip when there was a sharp knock on the front door. "Oh, I'll get it." She plonked Jamie on Sayid's lap. "I'll be right back."

Tying her robe a little tighter around her waist as she made her way to the door, Andie wondered who'd be calling at eight in the morning. Nick had taken Aaron just this past weekend so it couldn't be him. Still thinking, Andie opened the door and saw two well dressed men in suits and carrying briefcases standing on her front stoop. "Yes?"

"Ms. Parker?" The man closest to the door said.

"Yes." Andie nodded.

"Hi, I'm Dan Norton of the law firm Agostini and Norton." He said with an efficient smile. "May we have a moment of your time?"

"I'm sorry, why are you here?" Andie asked politely.

"Ms. Parker, we're here to get a blood sample from you," Mr. Norton told her. "And one from your son, Aaron."

Andie was stung. "Excuse me?"

"I have a court order signed by a judge," Mr. Norton removed a small stack of paperwork from inside his briefcase. "For you to relinquish your blood upon being served these papers."

"Why?" Andie asked with an angry furrow growing in her brow.

"To determine your relationship to the child." Mr. Norton explained.

"I-I'm sorry," Andie stammered shaking her head. "I don't understand. Um, who sent-?"

"I'm not at liberty to divulge the identity of my client." Mr Norton told her.

"Your client?!" Andie snapped. She couldn't believe this; who the hell would want to know if she and Aaron were related? Nick already knew that he wasn't Aaron's biological father; it was the main reason he and Andie were no longer together. Plus he saw Aaron as much as he wanted and on top of that, Nick and Andie were finally on good terms again. He wouldn't do this. So then who?

"Please, may we come in?" Mr. Norton took a step towards her.

"Get off my property." Andie snarled at him.

"If you won't comply, then I'm gonna have to come back with the sheriff." Mr. Norton told her seriously.

"Then come back with the sheriff." Andie snapped and slammed the door in his face. She waited until she heard them walk away before she peered out the window beside the door and watched both men get back into a shiny, black Lexus.

As they drove away, Andie sank back into the door. Someone knew. Someone knew Aaron wasn't her son and was trying to take him away from her. Who? Who would do that? Sure, Jack was in a bad place but he'd never threaten to expose their secret just to get to her. Someone else knew; someone who didn't want the Oceanic Seven's secret to be kept hidden. Andie had no other choice; they had to get out of here before someone else came knocking.

"Andie?" Sayid called from the kitchen door. He still had Jamie in his arms; she was chewing on the ear of one of her teddies. Sayid saw the horrified look on Andie's face. "What is it?"

"We have to leave." She told him. "Right now." She made a beeline for the stairs and ran up them two at a time.

"Andie?" Sayid called. He set Jamie in her playpen. "Aaron; watch your sister for me please?"

"Ok." Aaron agreed. He was already drawing another picture.

Sayid bolted up the stairs after Andie and found her in her bedroom out of her pajamas and in jeans pulling a black t-shirt over her head. "Who was at the door?" he asked.

"Someone knows." Andie answered, telling him quickly about the lawyer and the blood tests. "We have to get out of here or they're going to come back and take him away from me." She grabbed a suitcase from her cupboard and started emptying drawers of clothes into it.

"Where will you go?" Sayid asked as he watched her pack.

"I'll figure something out." She told him as she grabbed a smaller bag and headed to Jamie's room.

"Where are you going, Mummy?" Aaron's small voice called from the top of the staircase as he saw his mother shoving some of Jamie's toys and clothes into the bag.

"We're going on vacation, honey." Andie told him. "Here." She opened the linen closet and grabbed down a duffel bag. "I want you to take this to your room and pack as many things as you can, ok?"

"Ok." Aaron agreed and took the bag into his room.

Downstairs, Andie heard Jamie start crying. "Sayid; can you get her for me, please?" She asked him. Her friend didn't move. "Sayid? Please. Help me."

Sayid sighed. "Ok." He turned and descended the staircase.

Andie finished packing up herself and Jamie then went to make sure Aaron had packed clothes and not just toys. She also grabbed up Jamie's diaper bag from her room and tossed it at the top of the staircase with all the other luggage. Then she went into her bedroom and retrieved both her gun and the wad of cash she kept up in the top shelf of her cupboard and stuffed them both in her shoulder bag. Finally finished, she grabbed up all her bags and hurried downstairs. Aaron was already waiting for her with the duffle bag dragging along the floor and his small backpack over his shoulder. Sayid was holding Jamie and looking concerned but wasn't going to protest. He helped Andie with her bags so Andie could pick Aaron up and carry him out of the house.

"You ready, baby?" She said to him as Sayid headed out the door with Jamie. "Say bye-bye house."

"Bye house." Aaron waved.

**xxx**


	2. Chapter 2: Strong Enough To Break

**Chapter 2: Strong Enough To Break  
**

_3 years ago..._

Pregnancy was rougher than Andie had expected what with the inconsistent bouts of morning sickness that carried over all three trimesters and the constant need to use the bathroom. But nothing was rougher than what Andie was about to do. She had just entered the eighth month of her pregnancy and was still living happily with Nick and Aaron in their house in Los Angeles when she decided enough was enough. Her life here was a lie. Aaron wasn't Nick's son as she'd led him to believe. The baby somersaulting in her belly wasn't his either. She'd lied to him. That was the plan; lie to keep their friends safe. To keep her unborn baby's real father, Sawyer, safe. But guilt had a way of getting to Andie; usually bubbling over at inopportune moments and making more of a mess than she intended it to. Enough was definitely enough. She had to be honest with Nick, the man she'd agreed to marry, to protect him.

Andie was lying on the couch flicking her engagement ring around on her finger when he arrived home for the evening.

"Hi, honey," Nick greeted her as he came through the door. "How're you feeling?"

"Good." Andie smiled shakily as she managed to pull herself into a sitting position.

"Aaron asleep?" Nick guessed pointing towards his room.

Andie nodded. "Out like a light."

Nick eyed her strangely; sensing a change in her demeanour. "Are you ok?"

"I have to tell you something." Andie told him slowly.

Nick came into the living room and sat in the seat opposite her. "What is it? Is everything alright?"

Tears pricked Andie's eyes as she continued to fiddle with her engagement ring. "No." She admitted.

"Andie, what's going on?" His voice was stern and showed his confusion.

"I don't think there's any easy way to tell you this..." She mumbled chewing her lip. "So I think I just will." She drew a deep breath. "Aaron...isn't...your son." She had to clench her jaw to stop her chin from quivering. The look on Nick's face was heartbreaking.

"Wha-what...?" Nick sputtered crinkling his brow and shaking his head.

"He's not my son either." Andie continued.

"Andie," Nick's voice was angry. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Andie breathed in another huge breath, trying to remember the conversation she'd prepared in her mind. She'd thought of a way to admit the truth to Nick and still keep the big secret that all the survivors had promised to do. "Aaron's mother...she was on the plane. She was pregnant when we crashed onto the island and died giving birth to him on Membata." The tears flowed over her eyelids and slid softly down her cheeks. _It's the only way_, she told herself. _Pretending Claire died is the only way to keep her safe; to keep her son safe_. She didn't want to look up at Nick; she didn't want to see those tears in his eyes or that stoic way he kept his composure. "We decided it would just be easier if we told everyone he was mine..." She had to look up at him. "That he was ours."

Nick clenched his fists together and held them to his mouth. "He's not my son." He mumbled in disbelief.

"No." Andie told him running her hand over her engorged belly. "But that's not all." She had to take another huge gulp of air into her lungs. "I met...someone else," She held Nick's gaze. Her heart broke as he started to shake his head; anticipating what she was about to say. "On the Island. He...he died, too." She felt a lump of guilt rise in her throat but she persevered. "This baby...it's not yours either."

"No," He chuckled humourlessly. "No, no, no!" He jumped furiously to his feet.

"I'm sorry," Andie got awkwardly to her feet as well. "I am so sorry, Nick. I never wanted to lie to you. I never wanted any of this to happen."

"Dammit, Andie!" Nick yelled tearfully. "Why would you do this to me?!"

"I'm sorry!" Andie cried again.

"You're sorry?!" Nick screamed incredulously. "Sorry for cheating on me? Getting pregnant by another guy? Telling me I'm a father when I..." He stopped as he heard Aaron wailing from his bedroom. "I love that boy!"

"I know you do," Andie told him. "I know you do. And he loves you. And you can still be his father if you-"

"Why, Andie?" Nick interrupted her. "Why would you lie about this?"

Andie gulped. "I can't tell you." She said quietly.

"What?!" Nick cried.

"Nick, please," Andie pointed to Aaron's room and motioned for him to be quiet. "Listen to me," She brushed the tears off her face and stared Nick in the eyes. "I have no right to ask you to do this...but I need you to trust me when I tell you that I'm doing this to protect you."

"Protect me?" Nick repeated. "How do you-!"

"Nick!" Andie grabbed him firmly by the back of the neck with both of her hands. "I love you. Very, very much. And I know you must hate me right now but believe me...this is the hardest thing I have ever had to do." She was relieved to see that his face softened. Even if it was only slightly. "You know me; possibly better than anyone else in the world. I need you to believe me. There are things that happened after the crash that changed _everything_." She was shocked to discover that this admission of truth lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. She actually breathed easier and smoother than she had in eight months. It was just horrible that she had to shatter Nick's heart to find this peace of mind.

"What do you expect me to do with this?" Nick asked tearfully giving his shoulders a useless shrug.

"I need you to keep it a secret." Andie told him in as strong a voice as she could muster. "Everything I just told you; pretend like I didn't say a thing."

Nick hung his head, still in shock. "You know...we can't...I mean, you and I..." He trailed off.

Andie nodded as fresh tears welled in her eyes. "I know." She whispered. "But it's the way it has to be."

**xxx**

_Present Day Los Angeles_

"Mummy, where are we going?" Aaron asked his mother from the backseat of the car. He was busily colouring in his colouring book at the time as his little sister, Jamie, grabbed for his crayons from her car seat.

"I told you, baby," Andie turned around in the passenger's seat. "We're going on vacation for awhile, ok? Why don't you help Jamie draw her own picture?"

"Ok, mummy." Aaron agreed sharing his crayons with his sister and getting to work.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Sayid asked quietly from behind the wheel as he merged into traffic onto the highway.

"Well, what do you suggest, Sayid?" Andie asked uneasily glancing into her rear-view mirror; terrified that a police siren would start wailing out of nowhere. "Wait around and wait 'til that guy comes back with the sheriff?" She spoke in a hushed voice so as not to alert Aaron and Jamie.

"I can make sure that won't happen." Sayid told her. "I promise they won't get anywhere near you or the children."

"Don't promise things like that." Andie told him sternly.

Sayid sighed heavily as he took an exit off the highway. "I wish you would reconsider."

"You mean come with you to get H-U-G-O?" Andie spelled out her friend's name in case Aaron's ears picked up on the familiar name. Even Jamie, who'd turned two just a couple of months ago, might recognize who her mother was talking about. "Right, because from what you've told me you'll be doing this through very non-legal means so _of course_ I'd bring two children into that sort of situation."

"No need for sarcasm." Sayid chided her.

Andie sighed deeply. "Well...why don't _you _reconsider? Come with me; come with _us_." She asked for what felt like the millionth time.

"I can't, Andie," Sayid told her, also for what felt like the millionth time. "After everything I did for Benjamin...it's too dangerous for you to be around me." He took a left down a busy street near a train station.

"Don't deny the fun, Sayid." She smirked at him as he pulled the car up to the curb. "You know, I don't mind driving you wherever you need to go."

Sayid shook his head. "I don't think that would be a good idea. I should keep moving; alone." He turned around and looked at Jamie and Aaron.

"Dolly." Jamie said to him pointing to the floor of the car.

Sayid smiled and picked up her toy for her. "There you go, sweetheart." He told her. "Be good for your mother, you two."

"You staying here, Sayid?" Aaron asked him as he looked up from his colouring. "You stay on 'cation with us."

Sayid sighed. "I can't this time. But I'll see you soon, alright?"

"Kay." Aaron reached for one of his drawings. "This for you." He handed him the drawing he'd made the day they'd left the house; the coloured scribblings that were Aaron's family.

"Thank you, Aaron." Sayid told him reaching out and patting his small shoulder. He pocketed the drawing and got out of the car.

Andie climbed out of the passenger's seat and met Sayid at the rear of the car. "Be careful, alright?"

"You, too." He told her. "Call me if you get in trouble but I'll be in contact with you."

Andie put her arms around his neck and squeezed him. "Thank you." She told him kissing his cheek. "You're too good to me sometimes."

"It's worth it." He replied hugging her. As they pulled away from each other; he stroked her cheek, as if preserving her image. "I'll be seeing you."

Andie just nodded as he let go of her and crossed the street. He slipped seamlessly into the crowd and became just one of the people as he headed for the train station. Andie watched him until she lost him somewhere up the cement staircase that led into the station. Taking a deep breath, Andie headed around and climbed into the driver's seat.

"Where we go now, Mummy?" Aaron asked her.

Andie smiled at him through her rear-view mirror. "It's a surprise, baby." She told him. He seemed happy with that notion. Andie was happy herself, because the truth was she had absolutely no idea where to go next.

****

xxx


	3. Chapter 3: While I Live

**Chapter 3: While I Live**

With no idea where to go next, Andie drove out of the city and stopped by a park. Her children had been buckled in their seats for almost two hours; they needed to have a run around. Jamie was steady enough on her feet if Aaron held her hand and they walked together so while Andie sat on a bench nearby the sandpit, she watched her children building sandcastles. She took out her cell phone wondering who on earth she could call, pausing on Nick's number. She'd have to call him eventually; he was going to take Aaron to a baseball game on the weekend. But it definitely wasn't going to be now.

Andie jumped suddenly as her phone began to ring in her hand. She didn't recognize the number but she answered it anyway. Perhaps it was Sayid calling from a safe line. "Hello?"

"Andie? It's Sun." Her old friend's voice said back to her in that calm tone.

"Uh...uh, hi," Andie stammered in shock; she hadn't spoken to Sun in almost three years. "How-how are you?"

"I'm alright, thank you." Sun replied.

"Wait, are you in LA?" Andie asked.

"Yes, for a few more days." Sun told her. "That's actually why I was calling. Can you meet me at my hotel?"

"Of course," Andie agreed getting to her feet and walking over to her children. "Where is it exactly?" Sun recited the address of her hotel; Andie recognized it as a quite expensive establishment back in the city. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"I'll see you soon." Sun said before hanging up.

Andie pocketed her phone. "Aaron? Jamie?" She called to her children who were busily stabbing sticks into their sandcastles for decoration. "We gotta go."

"I wanna stay, Mummy." Aaron whined pointing to his sandcastle.

"Yah! Stay!" Jamie echoed, digging her hands into the sand and tossing some up in the air.

"Maybe later, ok?" Andie picked her daughter up and set her on her hip. "We're going to go see a friend of Mummy's for a little bit." She reached her hand down for Aaron. "Ok, silly?"

"Kay." Aaron reluctantly agreed taking her hand.

**xxx**

**_Island – 3 years ago_**

As the blinding light diminished from the air, Sawyer managed to see his surroundings again. Everything looked the same except for the horizon. The billowing, black smoke that he'd been staring at was gone. The smoking remnants of the freighter that contained all of his friends, his Angel and his unborn child were gone.

"What the hell was that?" He asked Juliet who was beside him, the bottle of Dharma alcohol dangling in her fingers. "There's the freighter?"

"I don't know." She replied holding her hand to her face to shield the sun. "Maybe it went down?"

"Uh-uh, no way." Sawyer firmly shook his head. "A minute ago, that boat was coughing black smoke. Now there's just nothin'?"

"What about the helicopter?" Juliet asked.

"It was heading for that boat." Sawyer muttered, reliving those moments with Andie on the freighter before he'd jumped. The look on her face as he'd kissed her goodbye; her screams of horror as he'd flung himself over the side.

"Rose!" Bernard's panicked voice screamed as he came stumbling out of the jungle onto the beach. "Rose!"

"Bernard?" Juliet called to him as she and Sawyer headed in his direction.

"Have you seen Rose?!"Bernard yelled at them, worry clear in his eyes.

"No." Juliet answered.

As if on cue, Rose came hurrying out of the bushes. "Oh, my God! Bernard!" She raced for him with her arms out wide.

"Rose!" Bernard cried as he embraced her tightly. "Where were you?"

"I was over by the church." She panted. "Wh-what was that sound? What was that light?"

"I don't know." Bernard told her, soothingly patting her back.

"Just calm down," Sawyer cut in. "There's no need to panic, alright? We'll just go back to camp and-"

""Calm down"? "No need to panic"?" Bernard repeated on awe. "We _can't_ go back to the camp."

Sawyer cocked his head to the side. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"There is no camp." Bernard told him; emphasizing every word.

"What?" Juliet repeated.

Bernard signalled them to follow him back to their camp. Sawyer stomped towards his tent but it wasn't there. He looked around the camp; there was nothing. Where there had been tent there was trees and shrubs; as though they had never set up their site. The rest of the survivors were milling around with bewildered looks on their faces.

"The sky lit up," Bernard explained to Sawyer and Juliet. "And then this. The--the kitchen? Gone." He pointed to where it had once stood. "And all the tents, all the food and water," He shrugged uselessly. "Gone. Well, everything but us. All of it. It's gone."

"It's not gone." Daniel Faraday was saying to everyone, trying to get them to calm down as he came up from the beach with the rest of the passengers he'd been ferrying to the freighter on the Zodiac.

"Daniel!" Charlotte said with relief as she spotted him coming back.

"Hey." He greeted her with a warm hug.

"I thought you were on the freighter." She asked.

"No, we never made it," Daniel told her. "We were on our way out there when it happened."

"What do you mean the camp's not gone?" Sawyer asked him angrily. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

"That's Dan." Miles spoke up. "He's our physicist."

"Listen, we have no time." Dan cut in. "I need you to take me to something man-made," He said to Sawyer and Juliet. "Something that was built, any kind of a landmark."

"There's a DHARMA station 15 minutes from here." Juliet spoke up.

"You mean the hatch?" Sawyer asked her. "The one we blew up?"

"That's perfect." Dan said. "We should get moving before it happens again, okay?"

"Before what happens again?" Sawyer stood shoulder to shoulder with Faraday. "And why is our camp gone?"

"Your camp isn't gone." Dan told him heaving a heavy sigh. "It hasn't been built yet."

**xxx**

**_Los Angeles – Present Day_**

Andie parked her car in the visitors' parking space before she gathered up Aaron and Jamie and led them into the hotel. With Jamie on her hip and Aaron clutching her hand, the three of them walked through the lobby towards the elevator.

"Mummy, can I push the button?" Aaron asked as the elevator doors opened and a handful of people stepped out.

"Sure, sweetness," Andie lifted him around his middle and up towards the buttons. "We have to go all the way to the top floor, to number 31, ok? Do you see it? 3-1." Aaron reached for the number and pressed it. "Good job!" She kissed his cheek and jiggled him and Jamie in her arms. "You did it!"

When they reached the penthouse floor, Andie led them towards Sun's hotel room at the very end of the hall and knocked on the door. A few moments later; the beautiful face of her old friend smiled back at her with lost eyes yet a peaceful expression. "Hello, Andie." She greeted her.

"Hey," Andie smiled. "It's great to see you."

Sun let them inside her impressive hotel room and took their coats. Andie set Jamie and Aaron up with colouring books and crayons on the couch but both were so tired they were napping on the cushions within a few moments.

"They are so sweet together." Sun told Andie as she poured them tea.

"I know." Andie agreed smiling at her children. "So," She picked up one of the mugs. "How long are you in L.A.?"

"Just a few days." Sun replied as she reached for her handbag. "I have some business to attend to. But I wanted to see you." She removed a photo from her purse. "Here it is," She handed the photo to Andie. "Her name's Ji Yeon. This is a baby picture."

"Oh, she's gorgeous." Andie gushed when she saw the baby girl's gleaming eyes; that of her father's.

"Thank you." Sun smiled at the photo. "She's with her grandmother in Seoul. I hope someday you get to meet her." She took the picture back from Andie. "It would be nice to see her, Aaron and Jamie play together."

"Yeah," Andie sighed as she looked over at Aaron and Jamie again.

"Andie? Are you all right?" Sun asked with concern.

"Yeah, fine." Andie muttered unconvincingly; even she thought so.

"Are you?" Sun prompted her.

Andie bit her lip and looked down at her tea cup. "Somebody knows we're lying." She muttered. "Some lawyers came to see me."

A brow crinkled in Sun's placid expression. "Who?"

"Two men." Andie explained. "They came to my house and they asked for a blood sample, some kind of lawsuit." She paused and chewed her lip. "They wanted to test to see if...to see if Aaron's my son."

Sun was only perturbed for a few moments. "Who did these lawyers represent?" She asked efficiently.

"I don't know," Andie replied. "They wouldn't tell me who their client is."

"Then they're not interested in exposing the lie." Sun said matter-of-factly as she took a drink from her mug.

"How do you know?" Andie asked curiously.

"Because if they were, they would just do it." She informed Andie. "And they would ask about Jamie, too. They wouldn't come to you in private. They don't care that we're lying. They just want Aaron."

"But who," Andie asked. "Who would do that?"

"I don't know," She set her teacup down. "But you need to take care of them."

"What do you mean, "take care of them"?" Andie repeated as an uneasy feeling ripped through her.

"Wouldn't you do anything you had to in order to keep Aaron?" Sun asked with raised eyebrows.

Andie was taken greatly aback. "What kind of a person do you think I am?"

Sun paused. "The kind of person who makes hard decisions when she has to." She replied sadly. "Like you did on Penny's boat, you made a choice...

"Sun..." Tears welled in Andie's eyes as she shook her head at the memory.

"But you did what you had to do. And if you hadn't..." She looked over at Aaron and Jamie; the pair was sleeping on their tummies next to each other on the same pillow of the couch. "You wouldn't have those two as they are now. When I look at Ji Yeon and I see Jin..." She gave Andie a faint smile. "It makes me happy."

"I'm sorry." Andie whispered as she began to cry; she wasn't even sure why she was apologizing. "I...just..."

Sun took Andie's hand. "What is it?" She asked.

"It's nothing..." Andie told her as she looked up at her. "It's just..." She smiled through her tears. "I hate my life." Her face cringed as more tears found their way out of her eyes. "I mean...I love my children; I do. And I love having them in my life but..." She bit her lip.

"What?" Sun asked with concern as tears welled in her eyes.

"How did this happen?" Andie asked her. "How did I wind up raising two kids on my own?" she sobbed.

"Oh, Andie." Sun murmured as she manoeuvred around the coffee table and wrapped her friend up in a hug.

"Y'know what's weird?" Andie finally spoke up after a few moments as Sun pulled away from her. "I never felt guilty."

"What do you mean?" Sun asked.

"When we crashed," Andie explained. "When I was with Sawyer, I never felt guilty about cheating on Nick. It was like...another life, y'know?" She bit her lip. "But after we got rescued...I had to...I had to sleep with Nick to make him think Jamie was his daughter and..." Andie felt humiliated tears spring in her eyes. "I don't think I've ever felt guiltier in my life. All I could think about was Sawyer...I felt like I was betraying him. And Aaron," she looked over to make sure he was still asleep. "He deserves to be with his mother and that's not me. It makes me sick to think how Claire has live these past three years without him." She took a deep breath. "It's not fair to her. And it's not fair to Aaron."

"Andie," Sun gently stroked her shoulder. "Aaron needed you. Claire would want you to care for him and you have. He's a perfect little boy."

Andie forced a pained smile in reply and wiped her tears away with her sleeve. "Thank you, Sun." She murmured as she regained her composure. It didn't matter what Sun, or anyone else, said, the guilt in Andie's heart never diminished. When Aaron called her 'Mummy', Andie's heart dropped. When he called Nick 'Daddy', she wanted to cry. How dare she create this lie for Aaron? How dare she set him up for heartache? What right did she have to do that?

**xxx**


	4. Chapter 4: I'd Lie For You

**Chapter 4: I'd Lie For You**

_Penny's Boat – 3 Years Ago_

Only two days they'd been on this boat; but they were all still in a daze. It was a well furnished machine so each of them got their own cot to sleep on. Andie was sharing a cabin with Kate and Aaron; the baby slept in a bed Andie and Penny had made of a washing basket and a handful of blankets. He hadn't slept well the first few nights; but none of them had. That night, Andie had been staring up at the ceiling wide eyed when she heard footsteps above her on the deck. Kate was snoozing beside her but Aaron was fussing and grumbling in his bed. Andie leant over the side of her bunk and saw the infant's grizzly little face; he was miserable.

Silently getting out of bed, Andie picked him up and wrapped him in his blanket before heading above deck to see who else was awake at this time of night. She had barely started climbing the steps when she felt Aaron's breathing slow; he was already asleep. He just needed the human contact. When she reached the top, Andie spotted Jack sitting in the open area underneath the stars. The deck boards creaked as Andie walked across them so Jack heard her coming.

"Hey," He whispered with a smile.

"Oh, you don't have to whisper," Andie told him. "Claire used to tell me when he's out, he's out."

"At least one of us can sleep." He said with a chuckle.

"It's gonna take more than two nights for me to get used to sleeping in a normal bed." Andie said as she sat down cross legged on the bench beside Jack. "Jack..." She ventured after a few moments. "What are we gonna do about him? About Aaron?"

Jack sighed and he shook his head. "I don't know."

Andie lowered the baby down off her shoulder so he was cradled in her arms. He was definitely asleep, his tiny mouth hung open as he drew in soft, contended breaths. "His father, I think his name was Thomas...Claire told me he left her and she was going to give Aaron away; that's why she was on the plane." She chewed on her lip. "Her father died when she was a kid," Andie continued; not mentioning the fact that Miles had claimed Claire wandered off with her father the night she'd left Aaron behind. "And she told me her mother had been in a coma for years...there's no one who can look after him while Claire's...away."

Jack sighed again and looked out to the open water. "Well, maybe..." He turned back to Andie. "Maybe you could...?" He raised his eyebrows.

Andie felt like she'd been slapped in the face. "Wh-what?" She spluttered. She had barely come to terms with the fact that she was pregnant; and now Jack was suggesting she take this baby home and raise him herself. "I can't take him, Jack." Her heartbeat started racing. "How-how could we even explain--"

"We could say you were pregnant when you got on the plane." Jack suggested. "And that I delivered him on the Island."

"Jack, I was living with my boyfriend before the crash," Andie said. "He'd know." The realization that she might actually see Nick again hit Andie like a Mack truck. She barely heard what Jack was saying, mumbling some medical jargon about it not being uncommon for babies to grow into the body instead of the normal outward that resulted in the swollen belly. "So, you're suggesting," Andie interrupted him. "That I tell my boyfriend that," She lowered her voice. "This is his baby?"

"Andie...I'm sorry." Jack shook his head. "Forget it; there must be other ways we can do this."

"What, are _you _gonna take him?" She chuckled, looking back down at Aaron. He looked so much like his mother as he slept. Andie and Claire had a short but strong friendship and Andie sure did love this little man in her arms. She thought for a moment what it would be like to hand Aaron off to Kate or Sun; let her memory of Claire and her connection to the Island be taken from her life. In her heart she knew she would see Claire again; how was she meant to explain to her friend that she couldn't handle taking care of her son and had given him up? Nick wanted a family; he would love this baby more than Andie could imagine. And more than anything, Aaron needed to be loved. "I want him, Jack." She eventually said.

"Andie, no." Jack put his hand on her knee; sensing her hesitation. "You don't have to...I shouldn't have--"

"After everyone we've lost," Andie stopped him. "Claire...Jin...Charlie," She gulped. "Sawyer," Tears pricked in her eyes as she mentioned _his _name. "I don't think I can handle losing him, too." Aaron sighed comfortably in his sleep causing Andie to crack a small smile.

"Sawyer's not dead." Jack assured her.

"I know," Andie agreed. "But he's gone." Her voice broke, but she willed herself not to cry.

"Andie...if we're gonna be safe," Jack continued. "If we're gonna protect the people that we left behind? Then tomorrow morning I'm gonna have to convince everyone to lie." He squeezed her hand. "If it's just me, they're never gonna go for it. So I'm gonna turn to you first." There was a very pregnant pause between them. "Are you with me?"

Andie smiled. "Always." She said confidently. "Goodnight, Jack." She got to her feet and clasped Aaron closer to her body as she headed back down below deck. She hadn't been on a boat like this since Desmond's boat the month before; it seemed like years. Of course before that she'd worked on yachts as a teen; that seemed like an eternity ago.

Aaron fussed a little in Andie's arms as she headed back down to her bunk. She passed Kate on the way, who whispered something about not being able to sleep so Andie told her Jack was above deck. Kate smiled and bade her friend and Aaron goodnight before they parted ways.

Andie hummed one of her favourite John Lennon songs, _Beautiful Boy_, as she patted Aaron on his back to soothe him. A niggle of uncertainty was forming within Andie's chest; she didn't want to lie. She'd spent her pre-Island life lying to Nick about her life; the work she did for Danny. She didn't want to have to go back to lies and deceit; especially with this baby boy in tow.

"Goodnight, little man," Andie kissed her fore and middle finger and pressed them against Aaron's cheek. "Sleep tight..." She climbed onto her bunk and watched as the infant drifted back into a peaceful slumber. Sighing, Andie knew there was no point delaying the inevitable. Sooner or later, and it was going to be sooner, she would have to deal with the fact that she would be raising Aaron. Claire wasn't going to suddenly be there to take him back. No longer could Andie prepare for parenthood for the next eight or so months until her unborn child was born; this was instant. No matter what, she was a mother now.

**xxx**  
_  
Present Day Los Angeles_

Andie pulled her hair back into a ponytail and drew in a deep breath as she stared at her reflection. After a long conversation with Sun while her children slept, Andie had decided that she needed to confront the lawyer. She needed to find out who was trying to take Aaron away from her. She went back into the living room where her children were sitting with Sun at the table eating. Jamie was sitting in Sun's lap trying to feed herself without making too much of a mess.

"Oh," Andie jumped a little as her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. The name on the caller ID made her heart skip a beat. "Nick?" Andie answered.

"Daddy!" Aaron cried happily from the table when he heard the name.

"In a second, baby," Andie told Aaron as she disappeared into the kitchen for some privacy. "Hey, what's going on?" She said into her phone.

"I dropped by your place to drop off some of Aaron's things that he left in my car," Nick said. "The door was unlocked but no one was home." He sounded concerned. "Breakfast was still on the table; looked like you left in a hurry...are you alright?"

"Yeah; I'm fine. We all are." Andie assured him.

"You don't sound fine..." Nick said slowly. "Where are you?"

"Visiting a friend," Andie answered as she sat herself at the kitchen table.

"Andie; what's the matter?" Nick pressed her.

Andie sighed hugely into the phone. "Someone's trying to take Aaron away from me..." She admitted quietly.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "Let me help you." He said eventually.

Out of instinct, Andie shook her head. "No, Nick, you don't have to-" She said.

"Let me help." Nick said again.

Andie smiled to herself, touched that he was willing to help her after all the pain she'd put him through. Although, when it came to Aaron, Nick would do anything and everything to keep him safe. "Ok." She agreed, telling Nick they'd meet within an hour. After she hung up; Andie took a second to compose herself.

"Can I see Daddy?" Aaron asked the moment Andie returned to the living room.

"Soon, honey, I promise." Andie told him with a smile. "I have an errand to run now, ok? But I'll be back soon."

"Then we go home?" Aaron asked reaching out and playing with the end of his mother's ponytail.

"Yes; baby," Andie smoothed his hair over his head and kissed his cheek.

"Mama!" Jamie cried woefully as she saw her mother get up to leave. She reached her chubby arms out to Andie. "Mama!"

"Oh, it's ok darling," Andie picked up her daughter of Sun's lap and cuddled her. "Mummy will be back soon." She kissed her cheek and set her on the ground. "You be good, alright?"

Grabbing her jacket; Andie waved farewell to Sun and her children and headed out of the hotel room to go and meet Nick. She had to drive back through the city to meet him.

As she paused at the traffic lights; Andie flipped open her cell phone and scanned through numbers. She halted on Sayid's; but decided she wasn't in any worse of a situation than when he'd left and thus didn't want to bother him. She then scrolled back up her phonebook list and stopped on Kate's number. Chewing her lip, Andie contemplated whether or not to call her.

She hadn't spoken to her friend in a few weeks, not since Sayid had come to stay with her. But Kate and Andie often spent time together since they both lived in Los Angeles. Since her trial and her break up with Jack, Kate had been slowly getting used to staying put for once, re-building her life in the one place rather than trying to live on the run. After Andie had broken up with Nick and given birth to Jamie, Kate often baby-sat and stayed the night to help her friend stay afloat under her newfound responsibility.

The light glowed green before Andie could decide whether or not to call so she tossed her phone back in her purse and continued on. Andie saw Nick's sedan as she pulled up to their meeting place. He was outside and leaning against the bonnet of his car wearing jeans and a fitted black tee shirt. Andie couldn't help but smile at him as she exited her car. They had a strong history together; a powerful bond that had remained intact through everything that had happened these past three years. Andie greeted him with a warm hug and then they both got into his car.

"Ok," Nick said as he settled behind the wheel. "What's going on?"

Andie drew in a breath and then explained everything. She told him about the lawyer and the blood tests; she told him about it all, including how terrified she was that someone was taking Aaron away. Nick listened and didn't interrupt. He was good like that.

xxx

**_Island_**

Sawyer wandered back to where his tent used to be and set himself against the tree that still remained there. He ached for a beer or cigarette; but mostly he ached for her. Since he'd crawled up from the ocean after jumping off the chopper with Andie's screams muffled in the wind, Sawyer had had a twinge in his chest. At first he attributed it to the swim back to shore; but hours later that twinge was still as evident as ever. He'd jumped to save her; to save his unborn child. And until that first flash; he thought it had all been for nothing. The freighter had been smoking in the water; he'd been drinking to the memory of the woman he loved and the child he'd never know. But what if the chopper hadn't landed? What if somehow they had all been saved and Andie was on her way home right now? Sawyer just wanted something, some sign of proof that she was alive. Then all of this would be worth it.

His attention was averted as Faraday, who had fallen behind back in the jungle, emerged on the beach into the waiting arms of Charlotte who seemed very relieved to see him. Sawyer pushed himself up onto his feet and joined Juliet as they walked over to Daniel.

"Welcome back, Dr. Wizard." Sawyer

"I think its Mr. Wizard." Miles spoke up.

"Shut up." Sawyer spat at him. "You've been gone for two hours." He told Faraday. "What the hell were you doing?"

"Yeah, you're absolutely right." Daniel said to him. "I'm sorry. I," He chuckled. "I finally found my pack in the jungle and I was coming back I--I--I," he stammered. "I just--it was a while before I realized that I was just... uh, I was _really _lost."

"Well, you figure out when the sky's gonna light up again?" Sawyer asked expectantly.

"I don't know." Dan admitted.

"Well, you at least got a plan?" Sawyer questioned him.

"I think we should take the Zodiac, head to a shipping lane." Juliet spoke up. "It's still here," She pointed to the boat pulled up on the beach. "I guess whatever we had after the first flash moves with us."

"No." Dan shook his head. "No, no, no. We can't just sail out on any course. For us to leave, I need to calculate a new bearing and, uh, to do that," He pulled a brass contraption out of his backpack. "I need to determine where we are now in time."

Sawyer rubbed his temples with the thumb and forefinger of his right hand; all of the time travel stuff was wearing him thin. It was one of those things he figured he just had to roll with because there was no way he could get his head around it.

"And what are the rest of us supposed to do?" Charlotte asked.

"I'm gonna go find us something to eat." Miles said as he got to his feet.

"And how are you planning on doing that?" Juliet called after him.

"Don't worry about it." He muttered over his shoulder as he disappeared into the jungle.

"I guess we'll get the water." Juliet nodded at Sawyer.

Begrudgingly, he followed.

**xxx**


	5. Chapter 5: What I Can't Change

**Chapter 5: What I Can't Change**

"We have to go and see him." Nick said after the moments of silence that followed Andie's explanation about the lawyer.

"And say what?" Andie asked, leaning back in the passenger's seat of Nick's car. "Piss off; you're not taking my baby?" She exhaled loudly. "They have court orders...they'll track me down if I don't give them what they want."

"Who knows about Aaron?" Nick asked. "Who else knows he's not our son?"

"Just those of us who were rescued...and you." Andie admitted, chewing her lip nervously. "But they would never risk our secret; they wouldn't take Aaron away from me."

"Andie," Nick held her hand. "If they take him away from you, they take him away from me; I'm _not_ going to let that happen. We'll find out who's doing this to us."

Andie smiled through the tears the threatened to fall from her eyes. "Thank you, Nick."

He smiled and squeezed her hand before starting up his sedan and peeling back out onto the street. Andie had a business card for the law firm, Agostini and Norton, with the address on it; it was in the middle of the city. Nick claimed to know exactly where they had to go. Andie was in such a nervous state, she was so happy to have Nick with her. There was no way she would have been able to drive on her own.

Nick parked out the front of a tall skyscraper with the firm's name in bold letters across the entryway. Together, Nick and Andie walked into the office towards reception. Andie tried to take a few steady breaths to compose herself; it wasn't working very well. Nick spoke to the woman behind the front desk and she asked them to wait in a conference room. Andie felt Nick slide his hand over her own as they walked into the room together. They sat in silence for a few minutes before they were joined by the same lawyer who'd bombarded Andie at home that morning, Dan Norton.

"Ms. Parker." He smiled at her. "And Mr. Matthews, I presume?" He offered a hand out to Nick.

"Yes..." Nick said, his eyebrows furrowed, wondering how this man knew his name.

"I got your name off of Aaron's birth certificate." Norton said efficiently.

"Oh, right." Nick finally shook the man's hand.

"A birth certificate that wasn't filed until..." He looked through his paperwork. "Two months after your son's supposed date of birth?"

"Well, he _was_ delivered on an island." Andie replied bitterly.

"Funny, you didn't say '_I_ delivered him on an island'," Neil said slowly. "Freudian slip?"

Andie clenched her jaw, afraid what she was about to say would only jeopardize her son even more. Thankfully, Nick took charge. "This is my son." He interjected. "This is _my_ boy; I've been raising him just fine for three years-"

"Yes, Aaron but not, ah..." Norton sifted through his papers. "Not James Grace Parker?" He held up another birth certificate. "This one does _not_ list you as a father. In fact, it doesn't list anybody as the father."

"What do you want from us?" Andie asked.

"You know what I want." Norton continued. "I have a court order compelling blood samples for you and Aaron."

"When you came to my house, I asked you who your client was," Andie reminded him.

Norton nodded along. "I said I couldn't tell you. And I can't."

Andie was silent. "So I'll offer you a deal." She spoke up. "I'll give you the blood samples, but first, I wanna talk to your client. Considering what you're asking for, that's more than reasonable."

"Well," Norton made some notes on a piece of paper. "I'm seeing my client later today and I'll be sure to pass along your offer. But I am pretty sure of what the answer's going to be." He looked her sternly in the eyes. "No. And the reason, of course, is that you are in _no_ position to be making any kind of deals, and we both know it. I have a signed court order compelling you to let us confirm that you're the child's mother. I could send the sheriff over there today and make you do it, but my client insists that we...handle the exchange of custody quietly."

"Whoa," Nick leant forwards in his chair. "What do you mean "exchange of custody"?"

"You know exactly what I mean." Norton told him as he started gathering up his paperwork.

"No, I..." Andie frantically shook her head. She couldn't believe this was happening. This morning she'd been laughing with her children, now it seemed that someone knew their secret and Aaron could be ripped from her arms. "Mr. Norton, I just wanna know who is doing this to me." She pleaded, hating the weak sound that came out of her mouth.

"You did this to yourself." Norton told her. "Now it is time you prepare yourself, Ms. Parker. You are going to lose the boy."

**xxx**

_Island_

_Don't you want her to come back?_

Locke's words rang through Sawyer's ears as he loaded his rifle. Ahead of him, Juliet and Dan were trying to rouse Charlotte after another shuddering flash. Since that day on the beach, Juliet and Sawyer had been saved by Locke, who had come stumbling out of the jungle just as Juliet was being threatened by one of the Others. But they weren't The Others as Sawyer knew them; they were about forty years younger. But their leader, Richard Alpert, looked just the same. Dan, Charlotte and Miles had been captured by these Others so Locke, Juliet and Sawyer trekked after them. They had found them at the Others camp atop a hill overlooking the ocean when another flash occurred; zapping out of whatever time they were in to another. The Others camp was long gone, or possibly hadn't been built yet, and just as the survivors were getting their bearings after the flash, Charlotte had collapsed. She was taking the flashes harder than anyone else and Dan was gravely concerned. It was while Locke and Sawyer watched on as Juliet tried to rouse Charlotte that Locke had uttered those words.

_Don't you want her to come back?_

With his own eyes, Sawyer saw the freighter smoking in the ocean. He saw it disappear after the first flash that day on the beach with Juliet. Locke claimed they hadn't been killed, that Andie, Jack and everyone who was aboard the chopper had survived. Locke told Sawyer that he had to bring them all back; that that was the only way to save them all and he would complete this task even if it brought an end to his own life. To do this, they had to get Locke to the Orchid station.

"Hey, Locke?" Sawyer asked Locke, keeping his voice out of earshot of the others.

"Hm?" Locke had been staring aimlessly out to the ocean. At least, it had appeared aimless. He reacted to Sawyer as though he'd been interrupted doing something imperative.

"You're so sure she's ok..." Sawyer continued. "What about the kid?"

"I'm sure Aaron is being taken care of," Locke answered as he glanced at Juliet trying to wake Charlotte. He took a step towards them.

"Not Aaron, Andie's baby..." Sawyer grabbed Locke's forearm and pulled him back. "My baby."

"James," He heaved a deep sigh. "I have faith that Andie and the rest of our friends survived. And if _you _have faith?" He clapped him on the shoulder. "Then I'm sure your baby's fine, too."

"Hey! She's waking up!" Miles called to them as Juliet and Dan helped Charlotte to her feet.

"Oh, my head," A pale Charlotte groaned as she steadied herself. "What happened?"

"There was another flash," Dan told her, protectively holding her around the shoulders. "You passed out. How do you feel?

"A bit dizzy," She smiled a shaky smile. "But I'm fine."

"Hooray, everything's back to normal." Miles said flatly. "Now what?"

"I'll tell you "now what"." Sawyer said as he swung his rifle over his shoulder. "We're going to the Orchid."

The six of them trekked through the jungle well into the evening. Sawyer took the lead with Locke while Juliet and Miles followed behind them and Dan and Charlotte brought up the rear. The air was cool and damp and it kept Sawyer's hair moist as it stuck to the back of his neck. The sky was clear with stars freckling the horizon. Swallowing hard, Sawyer directed his eyes to the ground. He didn't want to look at that sky, not when he'd had to stare it at the day before and watch it suck Andie out of his life.

"What are you going to say?" Sawyer asked Locke, keeping his voice out of earshot of the others.

"Hm?" Locke had been staring aimlessly at the jungle up ahead. At least, it had appeared aimless. He reacted to Sawyer as though he'd been interrupted doing something imperative.

"To Andie..." Sawyer's chest ached at the mention of her name; it conjured her image so clearly in his mind. "To get her to come back."

"I haven't figured that out yet." Locke admitted.

"Well, lemme tell you something," Sawyer said as he trudged through the grass. "She was pretty excited to hope on that chopper and get the hell outta here."

"She was excited to leave this island with you." Locke stopped walking and turned his wise eyes towards Sawyer. "How'd she look when you jumped out of the helicopter?"

"Hey, what is that?" Miles hollered from behind them.

Sawyer, who'd been reliving the anguish on Andie's face when she'd, realized he was going to jump, bit the bullet and looked up to the sky where Miles was pointing. There was what seemed to be some sort of spotlight streaming up into the air in a narrow funnel, like a large torch emitting from the ground. Sawyer noticed Locke was staring at it intently.

"Whatever it is, we better stay clear of it." Locke answered Miles as he took a sharp left in the opposite direction to the light.

"Beach is this way." Sawyer jabbed his rifle to the right. "Now you wanna take the scenic route?"

"John..." Daniel eagerly came jogging up to him. "Do you know when we are?"

Locke glanced at him but didn't answer. "We need to keep moving." He said to the group as he took the lead.

Sawyer let out a low guttural grunt and slogged after him. They walked in silence for a few more minutes before a low humming sound vibrated into Sawyer's eardrums. He stopped immediately. Juliet, who had been following Sawyer, almost collided with him.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"You hear that?" Sawyer pointed to his ear as the humming continued. She nodded and returned his confused expression.

"Is that a waterfall?" Juliet asked as her ears picked up the flowing water.

"You know where we are." Dan said to Sawyer.

Sawyer nodded. "Wait here."

"James!" Locke called in a hushed whisper.

"I got this." He whispered back as he readied his rifle and headed into the jungle. His months on the island had provided Sawyer with the ability to move quickly but quietly through the trees. He knew this area of the jungle well; it was close to the beach. It was the waterfall he and Kate had swum in during their first week on the island. Sawyer knew he way around this part of the land like the back of his hand, he knew exactly what he was supposed to see so the source of the humming should be easy for him to spot. He slowed to a quiet walk as the trees began to thin. Hiding himself behind the thick trunk of an Elm, he peered around the side towards the rhythmically flowing waterfall. His eyes bulged out of their sockets when he saw a silhouetted figure by the water.

She was there.

Andie was washing a t-shirt in the water as she sat on a rock by the flowing stream. She was humming to herself.

"Andie..." He breathed so quietly it barely made a sound. His eyes locked onto her beautiful face as she continued to wash her shirt. He could see those gorgeous eyes glimmering in the moonlight. She wrung her shirt between her fists and laid it out flat on one of the rocks. He'd forgotten that Andie spent so much time alone. She hadn't been found until after he got back from the raft blowing up, after they had met up with the tail end passengers of the plane. Andie had also been a tail-ender, but she had been thrown from the plane and spent most of her time alone before she'd been kidnapped by the Others. It was when she'd broken out that Kate and Sawyer stumbled across her in the jungle. That seemed like an eternity ago. And yet, here she was.

A now familiar whistling rang through Sawyer's ears as a white glow formed around him; sure signs another flash was coming. "No..." He looked to that betraying sky again. "No!" He took one last look at Andie as she settled herself down to go to sleep. The white light blinded Sawyer's view completely. When his vision returned, it was daylight and all traces of Andie by the waterfall were gone. His mouth agape, Sawyer just stared at where she had been sitting.

"James?" Locke called.

Sawyer jumped and turned around, his eyes still wide with shock.

"What happened?" Locke asked him. "Did you see something out here?"

Once again, Sawyer looked back at the waterfall. All he saw was the towering shower of water cascading down the rocks. "It don't matter..." He panted. "It's gone now."

**xxx**

_Los Angeles_

Andie and Nick sat silently in his car after their less than helpful interview with Dan Norton. "I'm sorry." She apologized to Nick. "I am so sorry you're in the middle of all of this."

"Stop saying that, Andie." Nick told her as he gripped the steering wheel tightly. "It's about Aaron; I'm already in the middle of it." His coffee-coloured eyes misted over as he caught Andie's gaze.

Andie smiled through the tears in her eyes and gripped Nick's hand on the steering wheel. In the past few hours they had been closer than they had since she'd handed him back his engagement ring.

"It's Jack." Andie wiped her nose and opened her cell phone. "Hello?"

"Andie? Where are you, are you ok?" Jack anxiously replied.

"Yes, I'm fine." Andie cleared her throat. "What's wrong?" She glanced nervously at Nick, Jack's tone was frantic and urgent.

"Listen, I'll explain everything once you're out, but you've gotta get Aaron and Jamie--"

"I'm not at home," Andie cut in. "I'm with Nick. The kids are at a hotel with Sun."

"Sun?" Jack repeated. "Sun's in L.A.?"

"Yeah, she's here on business." Andie told him. "Listen, Jack, this is really not a good time. I'm not--"

"Andie, please listen to me. Please." Jack said firmly. "I need to see you. Will you tell me where you are?"

Andie sighed. "I'm downtown. Wilshire and Olive." She told him.

"Okay. I'm on my way." He hung up.

"What's going on?" Nick asked as Andie slid her phone back into her bag.

"Jack says he needs to see me; sounded urgent." Andie replied.

"Jack?" Nick repeated, shaking his head. Andie had been too good to Jack in the recent year, trying to get him help and finding him a place to live, but he hadn't exactly been grateful. "He off the pills yet?"

"I haven't seen him in awhile." Andie admitted. "But Kate told me he's doing better. Although she hasn't seen him in awhile either..." She chewed her upper lip, hoping against hope she wasn't being dragged into another one of Jack's drug induced delusions.

"Do you want me to stay?" Nick asked.

"No, no." Andie shook her head and looked over at her former lover. His eyes were as supportive and loving as they had been three years ago on the day she'd boarded Oceanic 815. ""Go back to Sun's hotel room, I'll call her and let her know you're coming. Aaron's dying to see you." She smiled. After everything they'd been through, after everything _she_ had put him through, he still cared about her. This was greatly saddening to Andie because she knew, in her heart of hearts, that she didn't deserve it.

**xxx**


	6. Chapter 6: Those Eyes

**Chapter 5: Those Eyes**

**Los Angeles**

Andie bade Nick farewell and got back into her own car. After a call to Sun to let her know of Nick's imminent arrival, she kept her eyes on the entrance of the law firm waiting for Dan Norton to come out. He had said he was meeting with his client, if that was true then Andie was going to follow him and find out just who it was that wanted to expose the fact that she wasn't Aaron's mother. She glanced at the clocked again; merely a minute had gone by since she checked it last. Her hands still gripped her steering wheel as she tensely waited for Norton to appear.

Someone out of the corner of her left eye caught Andie's gaze; Jack. He was smiling at her as he crossed the road to her car. "Hey," He smiled and knelt in against her window. "Are you ok?"

"Why?" Andie asked; noting his smooth, clear skin. "Hey; you shave your beard." She smiled. His eyes were blood-shot and he looked exhausted; but that simple task of shaving cleaned him up quite a bit.

"Needed a change." Jack said. "You sounded strange on the phone."

"Yeah, well, so I did you," Countered Andie. She looked back at the law firm and saw her man; Dan Norton was shrugging on his jacket and exiting the building. "Jack; I can't do this right now. I have to go."

"Andie; what's wrong?" Jack reached in took her wrist so she couldn't turn the steering wheel. "Tell me; please."

As she watched Norton enter the parking garage; Andie considered telling Jack what was going on. If nothing else; he was Aaron's Uncle and deserved to know what was going on. Not that he had acted like anything more than a stranger to his nephew, but she would be lying to herself if she said she wouldn't like somebody to go through this with her. Even if it was Jack. "Someone's trying to take Aaron from me." She admitted, on the verge of tears yet again.

"What?" Jack squatted down on his haunches and didn't let go of her hand. "What do you mean?"

"There's a lawyer," Andie nodded her head at the firm. "His clients know we're lying. They know I'm not Aaron's mother and they're going to take him away from me." Andie saw Norton behind the wheel of his car exiting the parking garage so she gunned the engine to life as fast as she could. "I have to follow him and find out who it is; get in or don't." She didn't know if Jack had even heard what she said because seconds later he was climbing into the passenger's seat. Andie peeled out of her parking spot and began tailing Dan Norton.

**xxx**

**Island**

The pebbles on the ground provided Sawyer with excellent fodder to kick away the ache in his heart after seeing Andie by the waterfall. Her face was glowing in his mind as though his subconscious was a dark room and she was the only light he could see. And her eyes...those eyes.

"Hey." Locke's voice cut sharply through Sawyer's memory. "You ready to tell me who you saw back there?"

"Already told you," Sawyer replied gruffly, kicking a rather large pebble of the path. "It was nothin'."

Locke fell back into step beside him. "You and I both know _when _we were before the flash, James." He said. "So who was it you saw? Charlie? Shannon? Yourself?"

"And how is it that you knew when we were, Johnny Boy?" Sawyer asked pointedly. "That light in the sky--it was from the Hatch, wasn't it?"

"The night that Boone died..." Locke started. "I went out there and started pounding on it as hard as I could. I was... confused... scared. Babbling like an idiot, asking, why was all this happening to me?"

"Did you get an answer?" Sawyer asked.

"Light came on, shot up into the sky." Locke explained. "At the time, I thought it meant something." He smiled. "But it didn't. It was just a light."

"So why'd you turn us around then?" Sawyer asked; it sounded like a better option than going to back to beach. "Don't you wanna go back there?"

Locke crinkled his brow and glanced sideways at him. "Why would I wanna do that?

"So you could tell yourself to do things different," He said; his bitterness lacing every word he spoke. "Save yourself a world of pain."

"No," Locke stopped walking and turned to Sawyer; making sure he has his eye. "I needed that pain to get to where I am now." He clapped a hand on Sawyer's shoulder and then set off to lead again.

Sawyer knew he was trying to tell him something; that what he was feeling now was something he _needed _to feel to get on with his life. That pain was some sort of implied obstacle in his life that would spur him on and make him stronger. Right now; he didn't care. He was stuck on this wretched island with no one he cared for. He'd lost the closest people he had to friends in Hurley and Jack as well as Andie. _Andie..._it hurt him to even think of her name. More hurt. More pain. More feelings that, in Locke's words, was necessary to live through. _But what's the point?_ Sawyer thought to himself as he trudged his heavy feet through the jungle. _She's not here anymore_...

**xxx**

**Los Angeles**

By the time Dan Norton pulled off the highway, it was pouring with rain. Andie followed him into the parking lot of a motel and rested her car parallel to the lawyer's so as to keep things inconspicuous. Jack had been negatively bickering in Andie's ear the whole trip; trying to drop subtle hints that maybe this wasn't the best plan. In all honesty; she was sick of it. Her life revolved around Aaron and Jamie now. They were her purpose; her everything. And this guy was trying to take Aaron away? She would never let that happen.

"Andie, just because the guy told you that he was meeting his client doesn't mean that they're here in LA." Jack tried once again to convince Andie; though he should have known better by now. "He could just said that to throw you off."

"Yeah; or they're in there right now." Andie snapped back; keeping her eyes on Dan Norton as he shielded himself from the rain with his suit jacket and hurried up the stairs to the second floor of motel rooms.

"OK, and what if they are?" Jack threw up his arms. "What if the person who wants Aaron is in there right this second? Then what are we going to do?" His eyes were wilder than normal; side effects from his sudden rehabilitation. He lost his temper quickly now; and because of that he had lost Kate. He had to make things right, he had to do what Ben asked and convince Andie to get Aaron and Jamie back with him to the Island. Then he could make all this right again. "Come on; we'll go get Aaron and we'll figure something out."

She felt Jack's hand rest upon her own fist that was tightly clutching the hand brake. Aaron's giggling laugh rang in her ears as his smiling face appeared in her mind. The smile he shared with his mother. If Andie had her way; Claire would be here right now. _Why did we have to leave so fast?_, she asked herself, thinking back to the day the chopper had flown from the island. She, Sawyer and Miles had searched all night and day for Claire; but with Aaron growing hungrier by the moment and the threat of Keamy's men; they had had no other choice. They had to leave. _I had to leave_, Andie thought. _I left her there_. Maybe Jack was right...even in his current state what he said made sense. What was she going to do? She wasn't who she used to be anymore. She wasn't going to beat the crap out of Norton until he spilled his guts; literally and figuratively. Her children were what mattered to her and she would do everything she could to keep them safe.

Taking a slow, deep breath, Andie relaxed her grip on the hand brake and allowed Jack to entwine his fingers around her palm. "All right." She smiled tearfully. Clicking the engine over, Andie prepped to exit her parking space when she saw Dan Norton up on the second floor of motel rooms speaking to someone at one of the doors towards the end. Norton was let into the motel room and as he shifted, revealed who it was behind the door. A blonde woman; with strikingly familiar eyes.

"Oh, my God." Jack breathed. "It's Claire's mother."

Andie was stunned. So stunned she forgot the car was still running. She clicked the engine off as her brow crinkled in confusion. Claire's mother? Andie had never met her properly. She had been at Jack's father's funeral; but Andie hadn't known who she was. In fact, it had been Jack admitting to her a month after the funeral that the woman, Carole, had an affair with Jack's father that resulted in Claire that had caused Andie to go into labour. Andie's mind quickly connected the dots. Dan Norton was Carole's lawyer as well; it had been Carole asking about blood samples. Carole knew. "She knows." Andie whispered.

"Maybe not." Jack said in a calm voice, although his obvious worry shone through.

"She knows about Aaron." Andie felt tears pricking in her eyes again. "And that's all that matters. She knows he's not mine." Resting her head back against the headrest, Andie tried to keep her emotions under control. All she wanted to do was pummel the steering wheel, break the window with her clenched fists, scream at the top of her lungs and curse Jack for having ever made them lie. But she didn't. Instead; she looked out into the rain. She wished she could just meld into the pelting raindrops and splosh onto the ground, dispersing into nothingness and being completely forgotten.

"Let me go talk to her." Jack offered; taking hold of Andie's hand again.

"What?" Andie blinked the tears from her eyes and looked over at Jack; his sweet, brown eyes watching her cautiously. He seemed so genuine.

"If I can explain to her why we did it, maybe if I can get her to understand why...she'll listen to me." Jack felt sudden surge of confidence. He could do this; he could convince her. "I can fix this, Andie. I can. Aaron is my family, too."

Andie let soft, quiet tears drift down her cheeks. There was no way she could talk to Carole. She believed that her daughter was dead; Andie wasn't sure she could keep up that lie. She had never had to face Claire's mortality before; she'd never had to. But if Andie met Carole and she were to ask if she knew Claire at all; Andie wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't blurt out everything. Although, Carole seemed to be the one after Aaron so perhaps she already knew more of the truth than Andie believed her to.

Slowly, Andie nodded at Jack, agreeing to his plan. He gave her hand a quick squeeze and headed out of the car into the rain, not even bothering to shield himself. Andie watched him inquisitively. He was definitely more like the old Jack today than he had been in a long while. Whatever was happening with him was working. The buzz of her cell jolted Andie out of her thoughts. She sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes as she grabbed her phone off the dashboard. The display screen read NICK CALLING. "Hello?" She answered.

"Hi, Mummy!" Aaron greeted her happily.

"Hey, little man, what are you doing?" Andie tried to keep the tension from her voice.

"Daddy's here; we're playing monsters." Aaron giggled.

Andie could hear Jamie squealing with laughter in the background. "Sounds like lots of fun." She smiled to herself. "Does he know you're using his phone?"

"He help'd me dial." Aaron stated proudly.

"Aaron; gimme the phone, buddy," Nick's voice resonated through the speaker. There was some shuffling and clunking sounds before his voice came through clear. "Hey, Andie, sorry did we interrupt?"

"No, no," Andie sighed. "I'm glad you called."

"You okay?" Nick asked; his voice content but concerned.

"Not sure yet," She laughed nervously. "Are the kids alright?"

"Yeh; they're great. Sun's really nice; Jamie loves her." Nick said. "They miss you though; I think Aaron knows something's going on."

"I'll be there soon; I promise." Andie answered; catching sight of Jack exiting Carole's motel room. "That was quick..." She mumbled.

"What?" Nick asked.

"Oh, sorry," Andie told him. "Never mind. Uh, I have to go but I'll see you soon, ok?"

"Alright, bye." Nick hung up.

Andie sat her phone back up on the dashboard and waited expectantly for Jack. He was running towards the car as fast as she'd ever seen; but she knew it had nothing to do with the rain.

"Let's go," Jack said the moment he opened the car door. "Drive." His voice frantic and urgent. "Call Sun and tell her to bring the kids to Long Beach Marina. We'll meet her there." He hurriedly clipped his seatbelt on.

"The marina?" Andie repeated. "Why? Jack, what the hell happened in there?"

"We have to go now." His eyes were wild again; crazed.

"Tell me what happened!" Andie snapped sharply.

Jack was still panting. "She doesn't know anything (pant) she doesn't know. She still thinks that Claire is dead." He took a deep breath. "She doesn't even know that Aaron exists."

Andie shook her head. "No, that lawyer—"

"Carole sued Oceanic," Jack cut in. "And she's in town to pick up her settlement. That's all."

"And I'm supposed to believe it's just a coincidence that her lawyer happens to be the same one that's trying to take my son?" Andie laughed; humourlessly of course.

"I don't know. But whoever's trying to take Aaron... it's not her." Jack wagged his head back and forth to shake the water off his hair.

Fear filled Andie's heart once again. "Then who is it?"

Jack slowly shook his head and looked through the windscreen, out into the rain, contemplating what had happened. He's almost blurted out their whole secret to Carole; thinking she knew. She had absolutely no idea. He bolted out of there without so much as a goodbye. "I don't know," He answered Andie. "But we have to get to the marina."

Andie clicked the engine over and steered out of the motel carpark back onto the highway. She and Jack sat in silence for about ten minutes, in which time the rain ceased to a mere spray. It was then Andie decided to interrogate Jack further. "Why did you call me today, Jack?" She asked. "We haven't spoken since you and Kate-"

"I told you..." Jack interrupted; the mere sound of Kate's name causing an aching throb in his chest. "I was worried."

"But why today?" Andie pressed.

Jack sighed; he'd been hoping to keep this from her. He reached into his inner suit pocket and pulled out the damp piece of paper Sayid had discovered in the hitman's body that morning. He carefully unravelled it and passed it to Andie.

"I don't..." Andie's brow furrowed as she read her own address on the note whilst trying to keep her eyes on the road.

"Right before I called you, Sayid was attacked." Jack told her. "And the guy that did it--your address was in his pocket."

"Sayid?" Andie repeated as she drove into the empty marina parking lot. "What's he doing here?" She pulled her car into a space. She hadn't seen Sayid since he'd decided to leave her and the children and go into hiding. He had been so traumatized by working with Ben; he'd been staying with her to recuperate. She had been truly saddened to see him go; but why the hell was he with Jack? What were the chances of that? Something was definitely going on here...

"That's not important right now." Jack assured her. "What matters is that we get you, Aaron and Jamie someplace safe."

This was the first Andie had heard about any sort of danger. "Safe from whom, Jack?"

"Hello, Andrea." A slick; pompous voice sang out to Andie's left.

Instinctively, Andie felt like her skin was crawling. She snapped her neck to look out her window and saw him. Ben. The man who had held her prisoner all those years ago, who had shot her in the stomach and almost ended her life and who had taunted her about the loss of her children before the island. The man who claimed no one could ever leave the island; was standing right there before her in a smart black jacket with a clean cut hairstyle and shining, black van.

"It's okay." Jack said; touching Andie's arm.

At first Andie thought he was trying to calm her; until he added.

"He's with me."

"He's with you?" Andie shot Jack and incredulous look. "What the

"I know this is gonna be hard to understand, but he's here to help us." Jack said quickly; sweat beads appearing at the crest of his brow. "To help everyone that we left behind. We all need to be together again."

A beacon of realization hit Andie like a Mack truck. "It's him." She said, practically kicking her door open and springing out of her car. "He's the one who's trying to take Aaron." She pointed an accusing finger at him and

"Andie, no." Jack clambered out of the car after Andie and hurried to stand in between her and Ben as a barrier. "You--you don't understand-"

"No, Jack. She's right." Ben interrupted with a smirk on his face. "It was me. Sorry."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Andie's voice was low and shaking. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" This time; she screamed. "Why don't you just stay away?! Why don't you leave me and my family alone?!" Her voice echoed through the empty car park.

"Because it's not your family, Andie." Ben smirked at her. "Not just yours, anyway."

Andie's fists were balled so tight in her hands she could feel the blood pulsing through her wrists. She wanted to hit him; to hurt him; to make Ben feel as horrible as she did. Tears? Gone. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Jack was still in shock; Andie could see he was as stunned by the news that Ben had stabbed him in the back. For what reason, she didn't know. Ben had caged Jack as well; Andie wondered what had happened to make him forgive that. She sure as hell wasn't going to go along with this psychopath. Their lives wouldn't be what they were if it weren't for him. His stint as Henry Gale is what started this whole mess, enticing Locke, kidnapping the survivors, playing his insane games of cat and mouse; he was through. Andie lunged forwards with her fists tense and ready for a jaw breaking punch into Ben's skull.

"Andie," A calm and collected accent called to Andie; one she knew and loved so much. "Wait."

Andie held her fist in place and looked over her left shoulder in the direction of the voice. There, standing at the front of Ben's gleaming van, was Sayid.

****

xxx


	7. Chapter 7: Soul Mates

**Chapter 6: Soul Mates**

_Island_

Sawyer's chest heaved with every breath he took as he used what little strength was left in his body to push the boat up onto the shore with Miles, Juliet, Locke, Charlotte and Faraday all following suit. They had found the raft once they had arrived back at the beach. The camp had returned; but as to what point in time, no one could tell. Only that it was many years after rescue, judging by the rusted beer cans and faded tarpaulins among the overgrowth. The group and clambered into the raft and set off along the water, along the way Sawyer admitted to Juliet of who he had seen in the jungle but refused to elaborate. Their trip was met with an at sea attack from an enemy they had not been able to make out in the sudden downpour of rain. What had saved them was another time flash; they were still on the water but it had ceased raining. Locke directed them to the beach; which is where Sawyer found himself again that night. Saturated with sea water, his legs like jelly, he collapsed beside the boat leaning his aching back against the aged timber vessel. Juliet sank into the sand beside him, equally as exhausted.

"We didn't get a chance to finish our conversation." She said as she tried to get her breathing in order; gasping heavy sucks of oxygen into her body.

"What conversation was that?" Sawyer replied; closing his stinging eyes.

"You were about to tell me how it felt to see Andie again." She said matter-of-factly, a small smirk playing at her lips.

Sawyer let out a low grumble. "I wasn't about to tell you anything." He muttered as a scourge of thunder rumbled up in the heavens.

Juliet scrutinized his tired face; seeing lines of worry appearing in his forehead. "Why don't you tell me now?" She ventured gently.

Sawyer couldn't look at Juliet and tell her what she wanted to hear. It would mean what he felt was real, so instead he spoke to the ocean. "I was close enough to touch her." He started. "She was all on her own." His mind cruelly replayed that scene of her humming to herself by the lake over and over again; refusing to give him a moment's peace from her memory. "If I wanted to, I could've... stood right up and talked to her."

"Why didn't you?" Juliet asked, slowly and quietly, not wanting to scare him back into his shell.

Sawyer shook his head loosely. "What's done is done." He said with a hint of finality; that's all he wanted to say. It was the most he'd spoken of Andie since she'd left and it was all he would say. It was too hard to think of her; much less talk of her. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that he only had her for those few weeks. It wasn't fair that he had to be the one to jump off that chopper. It wasn't fair that he was now stuck, once again, on this island. Only now; he didn't have Andie to make it better. He didn't have anyone.

Sighing, Sawyer turned back to Juliet and was immediately concerned. A trickle of deep, crimson blood was inching out of Juliet's nose "Juliet..." He said, his breath catching in his throat.

"What's wrong?" She asked, blissfully unaware.

Sawyer gestured to his own nose, indicating for her to check her own. She did so and immediately blanched when she retracted her hand and saw the trace of blood now decorating her fingertips. _Crap_, she thought to herself, _now I'm messed up, too_.

**xxx**

_Los Angeles – 3 years later_

Andie blinked a few times as she stared at her old friend, afraid he was a vision that would disperse into the night air if she took her eyes off him. But Sayid didn't disappear; he remained stoic and strong as ever as his eyes stayed upon Andie who was preparing to pummel the ever-living snot out of Ben. She relaxed her hands at her sides and sauntered over to her friend with her mouth forming a loose O shape. "What are you doing here?" She snapped; her anger at Ben coming through in her voice. "You said you were getting out of town..." Suddenly; she was furious at him. "Why are you here with him?!" She yelled louder with every stomp she took towards him.

"Move, Andie!" Sun's voice commanded through the night silence as she stepped out of the shadows with a black pistol aimed directly at Ben's skull.

"Sun?" Andie was surprised to see her, vaguely recalling Jack's phone conversation with her in the car. Her anger at Sayid diminished when she realized Sun was by herself. "Where are the kids?"

"In the car with Nick." She replied; her eyes and weapon not moving from their target.

"Sun, I know you think you're helping-" Jack started to say.

"If it wasn't for you," She aimed her hate-filled statement at Ben. "Jin would still be alive."

A soft hand tugged on Andie's wrist from behind. Turning from Sun's verbal battle with Ben, she was relieved to see the half-smile of Kate at her side. "Hey," She exhaled and flung her arms around her friend. "What are you doing here?" Odd question, she realized, since it seemed like they were all her for the same reason.

"Sayid called me." She replied as she squeezed Andie back. "Said to meet him here..." Her voice trailed off when she saw Jack staring at her near Ben. "Why is he here?"

Andie followed her line of sight. "Who? Jack or Ben?"

"Both." Kate replied curtly; her bitterness at both males evident in her tone of voice.

Andie didn't get a chance to explain; she caught sight of Nick cradling a sleeping Jamie over his shoulder and tugging a drowsy Aaron along. "Andie; what the hell is this?" Nick clung to Jamie tightly and shielded Aaron with his body as he saw Sun with her weapon. "Who's he?" He jeered his chin towards Ben.

"Let's get out of here." Andie replied as she took her daughter into her arms. "Please?" She begged. Nick nodded and scooped up a yawning Aaron in his arms to put him in the car.

"Andie-" Sayid was suddenly right behind her, pulling on her elbow.

"Don't," She snatched her arm away from him, careful to keep her voice low to make sure she didn't wake Jamie. "You told me you were getting away from him." She spat the final word in Ben's direction. "Yet here you are." She gave him a menacing look. It had been Andie who had taken Sayid in when he'd been so broken and bruised after one of Ben's orders to murder yet another person responsible for his late wife's death; but she had brought him into her home with her _children_ and taken care of him. All because he said he was done; finished with Ben. But yet here they were together.

"I am sorry." Sayid apologized, his brown eyes genuine. "Hurley was in trouble, I thought you were in danger, Ben said-"

"I don't care what Ben said." She cut in, her voice grating and furious. "You lied to me."

Sayid didn't say anything. He didn't want to argue with her. He just wanted her to know the whole truth. "I am not going back to that Island, Andie." He stated.

"Andie?" Nick called from the car having buckled Aaron into place. "Everything ok?" His eyes darted between the arguing friends but he didn't intervene. Sayid and Andie were very close; but to see them fight was something new for Nick. He had never even seen them raise their voices to each other before.

Andie smoothed her hand over Jamie's soft head. She didn't say goodbye to Sayid, didn't say another word to him. She was afraid of what might fire out of her mouth if she let herself speak. Instead, she turned, buckled Jamie into her car seat, gave a wistful smile to Kate, and climbed into the passenger's seat of her car. Nick started up the engine and together; they drove out of the marina without looking back.

Sayid watched as the car made a left turn and went out of sight. His heart ached in his chest again. Andie was his family and he had betrayed her. It seemed to be the only thing he was good at lately. He wanted to tell her more; tell her why he had met up with Ben again, tell her what had happened with Nadia and everything that followed. But he did not; instead he let her believe he had purposely hurt her. Anger boiled within Sayid's churning stomach as he bypassed all of his old friends and head off into the night.

"Sayid, where are you going?" Ben called to him; as though he was a lost puppy.

"I don't want any part of this." Sayid spat at him, turning back for only a moment to seethe in his direction. "And if I see you again; it will be extremely unpleasant for all of us." He had arrived with Ben; but he was certainly not leaving with him.

Every step he took was another further away from the life he had tried to ignore. The life that had stolen away Nadia and ruined every ounce of happiness he ever had. With every step; a piece of paper brushed against the inside of his jacket pocket. The paper Aaron had given him when he had left Andie the day before at the train station. It was a family portrait; portraying Aaron and Jamie as happy children with their parents and Sayid in tow. This picture was a last lingering thread to a woman he loved; and he would carry it with every step that followed.

**xxx**

_Island_

The afternoon sun had dried Sawyer's clothes as the group continued to trudge towards the Orchid; the place Locke claimed they had to go to save everyone else; to bring them back.

_Don't you want her to come back?_

_More than anything_, Sawyer thought as he stomped one foot in front of the other. He wanted to know where she was. If, as Locke promised, she hadn't perished in the freighter explosion, then where was she? What was she doing? These were questions Locke promised to get the answers to. Sawyer had no other choice; if he wanted Andie back he was going to have to trust the old man.

So focused was he on the path ahead of him, Sawyer almost walked straight past someone kneeling down beside the river. Immediately he lowered his shotgun from its resting place upon his shoulder; aimed it and cocked it at the man. "Turn around slowly." He warned the figure; aiming his rifle squarely at his head.

The stranger carefully spun on his feet and turned to face Sawyer. With a shock; Sawyer realized who it was. "Jin?" His eyes widened as he recognized his old friend.

"Sawyer?" Jin said, his almond eyes widening just as much.

Sawyer let out an exuberant laugh and jogged down to his friend; encasing him in a huge hug. "I thought you were on that boat!" He slapped his back. "I thought you were dead!"

"No," Jin shook his head as they separated. "I-I in water."

"Well; what do you say?" Sawyer grinned and clapped his hand on Jin's shoulder.

A loud rustling in the trees behind them told Sawyer Locke and the rest of the group were approaching. Jin carefully scanned each person as they approached, not seeing the one face he was desperate to lay eyes on. "Where is Sun?" He asked Sawyer.

It took awhile for Sawyer to try and explain to Jin what was going on; how they were moving through time; he didn't know what charade to mimic to show that. Jin was frantically interrupting talking so fast in Korean Sawyer didn't understand any of it.

"Translate!" Jin suddenly yelled in English at Charlotte.

An even paler than normal Charlotte answered. "He wants to know how you're sure his wife is off the island." She closed her eyes, as if that sentence took up way too much of her energy. Daniel held her arm, cautious of what might happen to her. The flashes seemed to be affecting Charlotte the most.

"You speak Korean, Red?" Sawyer shot her a puzzled look. "Woulda been nice to know a little earlier!"

"Tell him I'm sure." Locke cut in. "But none of it matters if we don't make it to the Orchid."

Charlotte easily translated this sentence for Jin. They had a small conversation of their own; from by the look on Jin's face, he wanted to know where they were going and why. Jin's eyes bulged out of his head and he spun to Locke. "Bring Sun back? Why you bring her back?"

Locke took a deep, contemplative sigh. "Because she never should have left." And with that, he started to lead again. Jin rushed up beside Locke and the two began conversing in low voices to the rest of the group couldn't hear. Sawyer hung back with Juliet, who was fast becoming the only person he trusted in this godforsaken group of people, and followed silently. That was until that now too familiar whistling sound filled everyone's ears.

"Oh no!" Charlotte cried and grabbed her head as a flash blasted over them, following almost immediately by another one. "AH!" Charlotte screamed as a third flash raged throughout the jungle all around them; but by now everyone was on their knees clutching their heads in agony. When the last flash dissipated, Charlotte promptly collapsed.

"Charlotte!" Dan dropped to his knees and grabbed Charlotte's head in his hands.

Sawyer and Juliet knelt down as well, but Sawyer's attention was diverted when he noticed a trickle of crimson running down Juliet's upper lip. "Juliet...?" He called quietly. She looked up to him. "You've got a little..." He pointed to her nose.

Juliet touched just under her nostril and discovered the bleeding. Then she looked back at Sawyer. "You, too." She said meekly.

Sawyer ran his hand under his nose and saw a streak of red across the back of his hand.

Dan was still trying to rouse Charlotte. "Charlotte? It's Daniel, talk to me..."

Charlotte's eyes flew open and she began frantically speaking in Korean to Jin. Her nose was bloodied and her eyes were spilling with tears. "Don't let them bring her back!" She grabbed Sawyer's arm to steady herself as she started crying out in English. "No matter what, don't let them bring her back!" She tightened her grip on Sawyer. "This place is death!"

And then, her fear was gone...her face softened and she became almost childlike. Letting go of Sawyer's arm, she rested her head back against the ground and turned to Juliet. "Why can't Daddy come with us?" She asked in a small voice.

Daniel smoothed a hand over her forehead; noting her high temperature. "Charlotte; can you hear me?"

"You know what Mum would say about you marrying an American." She shot reproachfully at Dan. And then to Sawyer she said confidently. "I know more about ancient Carthage than Hannibal himself."

"What the hell is she talking about?" Sawyer asked Dan.

"I have no idea..." Dan replied sadly.

"Let's go." Locke spoke up loudly behind them all. "We have to keep moving."

"Alright, then somebody help me with Charlotte." Dan said as he got to his feet. "We'll have to carry her."

"No." Locke told him firmly. "She's just gonna hold us up."

"We can't just leave her." Juliet piped in.

"Flashes are getting closer together." Sawyer added his voice to the conversation, shocking no one more than himself that he was siging with Locke. "Maybe when your nose starts bleeding, you'll realize we gotta get out of Dodge now. We'll come back for her just as soon as we can."

"No. No way." Dan said with a vehement shake of his head. "I'm not going to leave her behind."

"Let them go without me." Charlotte whimpered.

"No, Charlotte, no, we're not going to leave you behind." Dan knelt back down with her and took her hand.

And then there was another flash; and this one stung everyone worse than the previous flashes. Sawyer buckled to his knees and cowered down; noting that everyone else was doing the same thing. Charlotte was screaming in pain.

"We have to move, now!" Locke ordered.

"He's right, go!" Charlotte tried to push Dan away. "Just go!"

Dan looked down at Charlotte as her head skewed slightly and she got a weird smile on her face. Then she started bobbing her head like she was listening to music. "Charlotte?"

"Oh, turn it up!" She told him. "I love Geronimo Jackson..." She smiled.

Juliet gently touched Daniel on the back. "We're running out of time, Dan."

"Go." He told the group. "You guys go; I'm staying with her.

There was no changing his mind; it was in the way he said it. He was going to stay with her no matter what happened. Juliet rose to her feet and joined Sawyer, Jin and Miles beside Locke.

"Let me ask you something, John." Sawyer turned to their bald-headed leader. "If we don't even know _when_ the hell we are, what happens if the Orchid ain't around anymore?"

"Look for the well." Charlotte suddenly spoke up; sounding completely normal. "You'll find it at the well. "

"I'll be sure and do that." Sawyer told her, his face pulled into a puzzled expression.

Locke slung his pack onto his back and looked to their group. "Let's go."

**xxx**

_Los Angeles_

Nick drove back to his house with Andie silent next to him. She didn't speak; he didn't provoke her. He didn't know a lot about what had happened on the island; but he did know he hadn't seen her this troubled since she'd come back. It seemed like an eternity ago that she'd laid Aaron in his arms and told him her first lie; that he was his son. Then a few months later; she admitted her second lie; that she was pregnant with his child. Both lies came out, neither children were his own, but somehow, somewhere in his heart; he had forgiven her. Maybe it was because Aaron was exactly what Nick had pictured when he'd thought of having children. Maybe it was because Andie wasn't his mother either; so Andie was forced into that lie and he knew that would have been hard for her.

But what had happened, had happened. Maybe they could put it all behind them now. "So..." Nick broke the silence as he pulled Andie's car into his driveway. "Do you want me to take Aaron tonight? Or you could all stay; I'll make up the spare bedroom."

"No, no." Andie quickly smiled and shook her head. "I just want to get them home." She jeered her head back to the kids. Aaron was awake now staring up at the stars out the window while Jamie was blissfully asleep in her car seat.

"You're sure? I really don't mind." Nick offered again.

"I'm fine, Nick." She smiled again and unhooked her seatbelt. Nick did the same and they met at the rear of her car.

"Andie, I've known you for way too long for you to think you can lie to me." He said this gently, with a half-smile.

Andie tried to smile back but her anger at Sayid, Ben, Jack; everyone, was still present in her voice. "I can't get into this right now." She replied.

Nick nodded. "Ok." He kissed her forehead gently and rested his cheek against her crown. "You know I'm here for you...for anything." He kissed her again and then said goodbye to the kids before the retreated into his house.

After taking a few moments to collect herself, Andie climbed into the driver's seat and set off for home. She'd been lost in her thoughts for awhile when Aaron piped up in the back seat.

"Mummy, I'm thirsty, I need some milk." He said firmly.

"You can't wait til we get home, baby?" Andie asked

"No." He shook his head back and forth.

Andie sighed. They were passing a supermarket anyway; and it might do her good to do something normal for awhile. She steered her car into a free parking space and grabbed her purse. The noise of the parking lot awoke Jamie who rubbed her eyes and looked as if she might cry; she hated being woken up.

"It's ok, honey," Andie said soothingly as she unbuckled her daughter. "We're at the market; you like the market." She hoisted Jamie onto her hip; relieved that her daughter calmed down when she saw the lights of the supermarket; for some reason she loved it in there. Andie helped Aaron out of the car and grabbed his hand as the three of them headed inside.

Andie had been to this market for essentials before, so she headed towards the back for the freezers where the milk was kept. "What kinda milk do you want?" She asked Aaron. "Chocolate or normal?"

"Juice box." Aaron answered.

Andie looked down at him. "You don't want milk anymore?"

"Juice box." He said again more defiantly.

"Joo-bokss." Jamie echoed with a tired grin.

"Ok," Andie smiled and headed back down the aisle to a store clerk. "Excuse me, where are your juice boxes?"

"Aisle 5." The young man smiled.

"Thanks." Andie headed off past the milk towards the aisle when her cell phone began to ring. She let go of Aaron's hand and began digging around in her purse. The caller ID read Sayid. Jamie grabbed for the cell phone so Andie had to keep moving it from her reach. _I'll deal with you later_, she told the phone and stuffed it back in her purse. It was then she realized she was missing someone. "Aaron?" She called. "Aaron?" She glanced up and down the aisles nearby; but her blonde haired little boy wasn't there.

Andie retraced her steps to the clerk she'd spoken to before. "Excuse me, did you see my son?"

"I'm sorry?" The clerk blinked at her.

"A little boy..." She retreated from him; worry filling her heart. She securely held Jamie to her hip and started jogging down the length of the store peering down every aisle. "Aaron?! Aaron?!" Jamie started to cry. It was Ben; he'd come for him just as he had with that lawyer. He wanted Aaron; he was going to take him away from her. Tearfully turning on the spot, Andie spotted a man with _Manager_ written on his shirt. "Excuse me," She grabbed his arm. "I've lost my son. He's three years old, a little blonde boy."

"Don't worry, ma'am," The Manager told her calmly. "We'll make an announcement."

"No, no, no!" Andie cried and gripped Jamie tighter. "You have to seal off the store! You have to..." Her voice trailed off when she saw her little boy being led away from the store by a short, slim, blonde woman. "Aaron?!" Andie cried and rushed towards him.

"Is this your mummy?" The woman asked Aaron. "Honey, is this your mummy?"

Andie dropped to her knees, scooping him up in her free arm. "Don't do that." She whispered into his ear quietly.

"Sorry, Mummy." Aaron replied meekly, hugging her back.

"I found him in the fruit section." The woman said. "He looked lost; I was just going to make an announcement."

For the first time, Andie looked this woman in the face. The resemblance made her breath catch in her throat; this woman looked so much like Claire it was scary. Andie tried to shake it off and just nodded; tears still fresh in her eyes at the fear rushing through her heart. "Thank you; thank you very much." She managed a small smile.

The woman smiled back and then went on with her shopping. Andie leant her head against Aaron's. "It's ok, honey, Mummy's got you..." She mumbled. "I've got you..."

**xxx**

_Island_

Sawyer trudged behind Locke for what seemed like hours. His mind was on two things. One; his nosebleed. It had stopped for now, but it meant he was under the same side effects of these flashes as everyone else. And two; he was going to get Andie back. The only reason he agreed to go with Locke was the chance that she might return. If the reason for these flashes was because their friends had left; then back here was where she needed to be.

"We're here!" Locke sung out as they entered a clearing where The Orchid station stood proudly. It was covered in overgrown shrubbery and vines that seemed to weave in and around themselves making the Orchid seem like part of the jungle itself.

"Thanks God!" Juliet said with a huge sigh of relief as she wiped sweat from her brow. "What are the odds that we would end up in the same time as this thing?"

Then, as if on cue, the whistling began again and another flash overcame the whole group. Jin, Miles, Sawyer, Juliet and Locke buckled and fell to the ground shielding their eyes and ears from the agony that was overcoming them. After a few seconds; it passed. But when Sawyer opened his eyes; The Orchid was nowhere to be seen. He shot a look at Juliet. "You just _had_ to say somethin'."

John suddenly pushed past him having seen something behind the group. Turning, Sawyer saw it too. A well.

Peering over the edge of the old stone well, John reached over and grabbed a rope that was hanging down into the depths of the opening.

"How the hell did Charlotte know this was here?" Miles asked in wonder as he, too, took a good look at the well.

Locke started pulling at the rope, letting it hold his weight and seeing if could sustain him. It seemed to be pretty sturdy.

"You're going down there?" Sawyer asked in disbelief as he watched him. The old man nodded in affirmation. "Well, what exactly are you hoping to find?"

Locke gave him a look, and then he smiled. "A way off the island."

"You expecting a subway?" Sawyer deadpanned.

Locke smiled wider. "Goodbye, James, Juliet, Miles..." He lifted himself up onto the edge of the well and held tightly to the rope. "I'll see you when I get back."

" No!" Jin shouted suddenly. This made everyone jump as he had been silent since they had left Charlotte and Daniel. "Stop! You don't bring Sun back."

"No, I have to bring them all back," Locke told him slowly. "That's... that's how it works."

Jin gave him a strange look. "How you know?!" He asked incredulously.

"I... I just know."

Jin grabbed the rope and whipped a knife from the back of his jeans. "I cut this." He threatened.

"No!" Locke's eyes grew wide in shock. "You do that, you'll kill every one of us!"

" This island is bad! You don't bring Sun back!" Jin cried. "You promise--you promise you don't bring my baby!"

Locke watched him for a few moments; and then he nodded. "All right." He said. "All right; you have my word."

"Promise, John." Jin pressed.

"I promise." Jin released the rope and let the knife hang limp in his hands. "I won't go to Sun, Jin, but she might find me. If she does, what do I tell her?"

Jin looked at his feet and thought for a moment. Then he looked back up at Locke. "You tell her I dead. You say I wash up. You bury me." He slid his wedding ring off of his finger and held it out to Locke. "Proof." He said sombrely.

Locke took the ring and turned his attention to Sawyer. "James?"

Sawyer looked off into the jungle; as if the answer might be there. If the island was death like Charlotte said then he didn't want his baby here either. Or Aaron, or Hurley, or any of them for that matter. But who was he meant to believe? A woman who was so obviously dying and spouting out sentences that made no sense as well as claiming they would all die, or a man who Sawyer had never trusted, but was now the only one with a proper plan of action. A plan that meant bringing Andie back.

"James?" Locke said again. "What do you want me to do about Andie?"

Sawyer drew in a deep breath. He missed her so much. He wanted to dive down that well and go to her immediately; he didn't care how or what happened; just that they were back together. But that wasn't what he told Locke. "If she doesn't wanna come back..." He let out the breath. "Don't force her to."

Locke nodded. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"You sure you don't want us to lower you down?"Juliet asked as she nervously watched him hoist himself off the edge of the well so his full weight was being supported by the rope.

Locke gave her a wry grin. "Where would be the fun in that?"

"If whatever you're attempting to do actually works..." She said slowly. "Thank you." She smiled.

"You're welcome." With that, he began to descend the rope, hand over hand as his group of friends or at least acquaintances watched him. That was until another flash started to approach.

"Uh-oh." Miles grabbed his head in preparation for what was to come.

The whistling sounds became more intense and a bright light emanated from the bottom of the well, blinding John halfway down. He grunted and struggled to keep his grip.

Sawyer reached out and grabbed the rope. "John, dammit, hold on!" But it was too late; the flash was too overpowering for all of them. Sawyer squinted his eyes closed but firmly kept the rope in his hands until the flash dissolved and it was all quiet and peaceful again.

"I think you can let go of that now." Miles said looking down at sawyer.

Sawyer opened his eyes and saw what he was gripping. He still had the rope; but there was no well anymore. The rope just disappeared into the earth with no sign that any well had ever been there. "No." Sawyer tugged on the rope. "NO! No, no, no!" He fell to his knees and started to claw at the ground with his bare hands. If Locke was dead; that was it. He'd never see her again.

"James, stop." Juliet said gently.

"No!" Sawyer kept clawing at the dirt.

"James, stop!" There was a sharper tone in her voice now.

"C'mon, help me!" Sawyer yelled at her over his shoulder.

Juliet calmly put her hand on his shoulder. "James--we can't help him."

He knew that; he knew it was useless. They had probably flashed back to a time before the well had even been built. But it wasn't fair...how could he get her back now?

**xxx**


	8. Chapter 8: More Than You And Me

**Chapter 8: More Than You And Me**

_Island - Friday_

A searing pain in Andie's gut shot her out of a dreamless unconsciousness. Her face was half resting in calm water and her clogged ears picked up some yelling voices, but she couldn't make out who they belonged to. She tried to move her arms and legs but her brain was having trouble sending the messages to her limbs to get moving. She felt someone roll her onto her back and made out the blurry shape of Jack leaning over her. Her hearing started to clear up and she managed to get control of her limbs again. She reached up and patted Jack's arm; letting him know she was okay.

"Come on..." Jack pulled her hands so she was sitting up. He rested a strong arm behind her back which she almost instantly fell back into. "You ok?"

Nodding; Andie focused her eyes on Kate and Hurley who were panting with exhaustion beside her. It was so familiar to her. This is where she had woken up the first time. Although three years ago she had woken up alone by this waterfall; the same waterfall where she and Sawyer shared their first kiss. It still looked the same as it had back then; only no plane wreckage surrounded them. It was just the four of them; damp and dishevelled.

"We're back?" She asked.

"Yeah," Jack confirmed as he stood up taking Andie with him. "We're back."

_46 hours earlier_

_Los Angeles – Tuesday Evening_

Exhausted, Andie dragged her heavy body up the stairs and headed for room 23. She knocked twice; even her knocks sounded tired. She didn't have to wait long; the door opened moments later.

"Andie?" Sayid scanned his eyes up and down her body; she looked frailer than he'd ever seen her before. "I didn't think I'd hear from you..." He trailed off as she brushed passed him and headed for the kitchen. Sayid took a sip of the whiskey he'd just poured himself followed her. "Why are you here?"

"Are you really not going back to the island?" She turned to face him; her eyes glistening with even more tears. She couldn't believe she had more to give.

"I cannot do anything for Ben." Sayid admitted; setting his glass down. "Not anymore. I have my freedom now...I do not wish to jeopardize it."

Threading her fingers through her hair, Andie drew a deep breath before she spoke. "I'm going back." She said quietly.

Sayid stop mid motion as he went to sit down. "What?"

"I'm going back to the island with Jack tomorrow." She smiled; but there was no happiness on her face.

Sayid shook his head and laughed. "Then you are just as crazy as he is." He started to refill his glass. "Why are you here, Andie?" His slightly inebriated mind briefly cleared as he noticed just how upset Andie was. And how alone. "Where are the children?" He put the whiskey bottle down.

Andie refused to answer his question, simply refused. "Come back with me."

Sayid flinched. "No." He said curtly.

"Sayid-"

"I said no!" He bellowed and advanced on her, snatching her wrist and pulling her towards the door. "You can't be here; you can't be doing this to me. Not now! You can't-"

"Let go of me!" Andie yanked her wrist free. "How can you say that? We're talking about our friends!"

"We don't even know if they're still alive!"

Anger sliced through Andie's veins. Before she even knew what she was doing, she smacked Sayid with a sharp slap against his slacken jaw. How could he say that to her? Claire, Sawyer...Aaron's mother and Jamie's father; he considers them dead? _This is meant to be my best friend,_ she thought, _how dare he say this to me?_ Sayid seemed to think the same thing because he was very quiet. "Don't ever speak to me like that again." She warned him.

He released his grip on her and let his chin fall to his chest. "I'm sorry." He muttered, running a hand through his mess of untamed curls. "But I cannot go back there with that man." He refused to say Ben's name aloud anymore.

"Not even for me." Andie said bitterly. She was just stating fact; not trying to entice him to come with her. It was just a sad realization she'd just come to in that moment; not even their friendship would make him go back.

Sayid let out an exasperated puff of air and slapped his hands gently at his sides; unsure of what else to do. "If you need me-

"I need you. I need you!" Andie found herself yelling. "I need you _now_!"

Sayid folded his arms and shook his head. "Andie..."

"No!" She pushed him; hard. His back smacked against the wall. "You have to be here when I need you!" Andie was shaking in anger; she went to shove him again but he gripped her wrists to keep her back. "I need you _now_! I n-need you n-now." Her breath caught in her throat and she couldn't go on.

Sayid pulled his friend tightly into his chest and felt her arms seize him around his back. "I need you, now," She said through breathless sobs. "Please." She begged.

"Andie," Sayid lifted her face up off his body and stared into her beautiful, heartbroken eyes. "I will do anything you ask of me." He wiped a tear off her cheek. "But I cannot go back there." Frightened tears pricked his eyes. "Please do not ask me to."

His touch warmed her skin; she could feel his heart racing through her veins keeping in time with her own. Her hands were gripping the back of his shirt in two tight fists; so she released them and instead rested her hands against his strong chest. His fingertips brushed the tears from her eyes as he cupped her face securely in his hands. He wasn't going to come back; Andie knew that now. And it didn't mean he didn't care for her deeply; it meant that his hatred for Ben and his disdain for everything that had happened because of that man blocked out all other thoughts from his mind. Sayid was willing to give up Andie to keep away from Ben; _that _was how much he hated him.

Andie didn't know what would happen when they got on that Ajira plane; maybe they would never return at all. If so, this would be the last time she'd see Sayid, the truest friend she had ever had. The man who didn't doubt her, the man who never left her...a kindred spirit of her heart. She loved him; and he loved her.

With her mind as blurred as her tearful vision; Andie latched her hands around Sayid's neck and pulled his lips onto hers. She tasted the bitterness of alcohol but it didn't deter her. For a few moments; they were frozen in that kiss; each one unsure of what to do next and not wanting to be the one to proceed. Sayid's lips opened so Andie took advantage of the chance and pushed her mouth deeper onto his. His arms enveloped her in a warm, safe embrace. Their lips detached and Andie rested her cheek against his heart. He planted several kisses on atop her head and squeezed his strong arms around her.

Andie's hands found the hem of Sayid's singlet and she snaked her hands up underneath it feeling his arm, toned chest shiver underneath her fingernails. She lifted her head off his body and pulled his shirt up over his head. His face was unreadable; but he didn't stop her. When his shirt was tossed to the floor; he ran both his hands over Andie's face and slipped them down behind her neck so he was cupping her jaw. He paused; as if maybe in that moment one of them would come to their senses and stop this. But neither did. So Sayid pulled Andie's mouth back onto his and kissed her with a fierce passion he hadn't felt in a very long time. He pulled at the buttons of her blouse and it came easily undone. She pressed her bare middle against his chin making Sayid moan at the mere feeling of her being so close to him. He slipped the blouse off her shoulders and turned her around so her back was pressed against the wall. Lifting her legs up off the ground; he hitched them around his waist as Andie undid his zipper and slid her hand into his pants.

Soon; they found their way to Sayid's bed where they slowly and gently made love to each other. It had been a long time since Andie had been this close with a man; but she hadn't felt this kind of connection since that first time with Sawyer, that feeling that it was right. But Sayid was a completely different lover to Sawyer. Sayid traced soft kisses down Andie's naked body, between her breasts all the way down to her thighs where he ran his hands over her delicate skin making her cry out in pleasure before he'd even entered her.

When they were finished; Sayid lay on top of Andie, pressing himself up on his hands as he gazed down at her smiling face. He gave her a full, loving kiss on the mouth and wrapped her in his arms whilst rolling over onto his back.

"You know why I can't go back, don't you?" Sayid murmured as she settled against him.

With a deep breath that somehow made her feel content, she replied. "Yes, I do. I don't like it; but I get it." She rested her head back against his heaving chest and closed her eyes. He held Andie to his body for the rest of the night until they both fell into a blissful sleep. But by the time Sayid awoke later that night, Andie was gone.

**xxx**

_Island - 1977_

How much life had changed in three years. When Sawyer and his team had come across a young woman named Amy in the jungle, they never thought it would bring them to this place, as members of the Dharma Initiative. Sawyer had used all his years of conning to lie for his friends and keep them safe; it worked. They were now part of the group at The Barracks.

Juliet, she'd wanted to leave, planned to leave, but Sawyer had made her stay. He didn't want to be alone, and she was the closest thing to a friend he had left since Locke had disappeared down the well. And now... their life was perfect. They were in love. Sawyer, or Jim LaFleur as he went by now as head of Dharma security, hadn't planned it at all. But over the years of working together, seeing Juliet was more than just that crazy blonde Other who tasered him all those years ago... it spurred something in his heart that had laid dormant ever since he'd jump out of that chopper.

The day they had found Amy; she lost her husband, Paul. But three years later she had found love again, too, in the arms of Horace Goodspeed and the pair had just welcomed a child into the world. Sawyer had to coax Juliet out of her comfy confines in the motor shed to get her to help Amy in her difficult labour; but she had. And now baby Ethan, the baby that would one day grow up to be an enemy to Sawyer, was a healthy and happy little boy. Of course, Horace had managed to screw things up by getting drunk and missing the birth, and that's why Sawyer sat beside his boss who was unconscious on the couch, waiting for him to wake up so he could tell him all that he'd missed.

Turning the page of his book, Sawyer noticed Horace stir. "Hey," Sawyer shook his shoulder a little. "Wake up, boss."

Horace groaned loudly as he sat himself up on the couch. "Oh, Lord..." He rested his head back against the couch.

Sawyer removed his glasses. "I got some good news and some bad news; what do you want first?"

"Good news." Horace answered with a sigh.

"You're a daddy. Bad news is you missed it."

"Oh, gosh." Horace looked stunned. "Amy... she had the baby?"

Sawyer smiled. "It's a boy."

"A boy?" Horace chuckled proudly as he rested a glass of ice water against his right temple. "Ooh..."

"Now how about you tell me why you're too busy drinkin' to see him get born?"

"I was, uh...," He took a long drink of water. "I was looking for a pair of socks, and all of mine were dirty, so I went to grab a pair of Amy's, and... I found this..." He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out an ankh necklace. "It was Paul's."

"You got in a fight over a necklace?" Sawyer asked quizzically.

"I know." He rubbed his temple. "But...it's only been three years, Jim. Just three years that he's been gone. Is that really long enough to get over someone?"

Sawyer let his mind wander back. Her face...her laugh...the way she made his heart race... "I had a thing for a girl once..." He admitted to Horace. "And I had a shot at her...but I didn't take it. I left and came here and she was pregnant...I've never seen the kid..." He drew in a deep breath. "For a little while I'd lay in bed every night wondering if I'd made a mistake... wondering if I'd ever stop thinking about them." He paused, his breath catching in his throat. Today, he'd been expectantly waiting the birth of Amy's son, and up until now he hadn't let himself think about it... but who was with Andie when she had their baby? Was she alone? Did she get back with her ex; was he there for her? Who watched his baby be born...

"And did you?" Horace urged him to continue. "Did you ever stop thinking about her?"

Sawyer bit his lip, willing Juliet's smile to cut across his memory of Andie. "She's never coming back." He told Horace firmly. "So... is three years long enough to get over someone?" He swallowed a hard lump of sadness in his throat. "Absolutely." He lied.

**xxx**


	9. Chapter 9: Point of No Return

**Chapter 9: Point of No Return**

Andie clung to Kate's arm as they, plus Jack and Hurley, climbed out of water. They were back. This island, the trees, the ground, everything they'd abandoned was now right at their feet. "What happened?" Kate groaned as he checked a gash on her wrist.

"Where's the plane?" Andie asked. The first time the plane had crashed, she'd been thrown dead into the middle of the jungle, and it seemed as though the same thing had happened to the four of them.

"I don't know." Jack wrung water out of his suit jacket. "After that light on the plane, I... I woke up in the jungle... do you remember crashing?"

"Crashing? No." Hurley replied. "One second, I'm being tossed around. The next thing I know, I'm in the lagoon."

"Where's Sun and Sayid?" Kate panted. "Where's Ben?"

"All right. Let's spread out, search the jungle." Jack took the lead. "We come across anybody from the plane, we'll—

"Do you hear that?" Andie pulled on Jack's arm to quieten him. A soft song was tingling through the jungle, with a tinny echo to it like it was from a radio.

"Dude..." Hurley breathed. "That's that van." He pointed a pudgy finger to the jungle where a shining blue and white VW van was crashing through the shrubs.

The driver of the van was wearing a tan jumpsuit and had a head of bouncy, black curls. He also had a rifle, which he aimed at the four of them, but his face wasn't concealed, and it was quite clear who he was.

"Jin?" Hurley couldn't believe his eyes.

Their old friend lowered his gun, his face a mixture of surprise and shocked-happiness. "Hurley?" He scanned the group. "Kate... Andie? Jack?"

"Jin!" Jack was so relieved to see him. "It's so good to see you."

"What-what are you all doing here?" Jin slung his rifle over his shoulder. "How did you get back here?"

"Wow, dude, your English is, like, real good." Hurley smiled and gave Jin a bear hug.

"What are you wearing?" Andie spoke up; her smile fading when she saw the Dharma logo.

"You should all get in the van," Jin said after a moment. "There's a lot to explain."

**xxx**

Andie paused and leant her tired hands against the steering wheel of her car. Her eyes were stinging from all the tears she had cried; but there was nothing she could do to stop them. Not now. She turned in her seat and saw her children sleeping peacefully in the back. Suddenly, fear gripped her throat. She didn't know if she could go through with this.

A porch light flicked on and a very familiar face came onto the veranda. "Andie?" Nick called quietly as he approached her car. "What's wrong?" He caught sight of her through her window and saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. "Andie," He yanked her door open and knelt beside her. "What happened?"

"I need your help." She managed to say tearfully. He simply nodded in reply; silently asking for her to continue. But instead Andie got out of her car and opened the back door. She gently unhooked Jamie's car seat restraints and lifted her up. She cuddled her daughter close to her chest for a moment before handing her over to Nick. He held her just as close to his body as Andie unlocked Aaron's seat belt and scooped him up into his arms. Together, the four of them walked into Nick's house.

Andie took Aaron into his room, what he liked to call his 'Daddy-room', and lowered him softly onto his bed. Nick was right behind her and settled Jamie onto the bed beside her brother. His son had recently upgraded to a big-boy bed so there was enough room for both of them.

Brushing tears out of her eyes, Andie went into Nick's kitchen so she was well out of earshot of her babies.

"I lost him." She said.

"What?"

"We were in the supermarket and I turned around for one second...and Aaron was gone." Andie shivered as she remembered how terrifying that had been. "But the thing is... as scared as I was...I wasn't surprised." She shook her head. "I saw him walking off with a blonde woman who reminded me so much of his mother." She paused and bit her lip. "And I thought "_Why would he pick her_?" He knows not to go off with strangers; but why did he pick _her_?" She ran a hand through her hair. "Why would I feel that way; why would I expect him to be taken?"

Nick folded his arms across his chest and drew a deep breath. "Because you took him, Andie."

"No, Claire was gone..." Andie reminded him. "I had to take him; he needed me."

"You needed him." Nick corrected her solemnly. "That guy Sawyer? He broke your heart...how else were you supposed to fix it?" He knew all too well how healing a child was to a broken heart; Aaron had done the same thing to his when Andie had divulged the truth about his paternity. "Why are you telling me all of this? What are you doing here, Andie?" Nick asked, urgently but in a calm voice. She seemed so fragile; he didn't want to break her.

"I have to go back." Andie said; her voice shaking.

"Back?" Nick repeated, his eyes narrowing in confusion. "Back where?"

"To the Island." She said; taking a deep breath.

Nick let out a laugh, but no trace of humour was in the air. He just didn't know what else to do; what she was saying was unbelievable. "Wh-why?"

"Aaron needs his mother." She said. "And she needs him. I can't...I can't do this anymore; it's not right."

"How...how are you going to go back?" Nick folded his arms over his muscular chest. "You said you couldn't find the Island..."

Andie smiled. "Jack says there's a way we can go back but it has to be tomorrow. He wants us all to go back, but I can't take Aaron and Jamie there." Her face crumpled in tears.

"Andie..." The truth was finally settling in to Nick; the truth about why Andie had showed up at his house in the middle of the night and settled her two children under his roof. She was going to leave them with him.

"I know this is a lot to handle, Nick, I do," She admitted. "But I know that you will take good care of them while I'm gone."

Andie retrieved a crumpled piece of paper from her wallet; the address for the motel room she and Jack had visited earlier. "This, uh," She handed the scrap to Nick. "This is where Carole Littleton is staying while she's in LA...she's Aaron's grandmother. And I'm going to see her...and tell her about Aaron..." She gulped. "And about you."

Still in shock, Nick took the paper and stared from it to Andie. "Are you sure about this?"

Andie smiled and shook her head. "Absolutely not." She wiped the tears off her cheeks. "But it's the right thing to do. I've been lying for three years..." She shrugged. "I can't do it anymore. Just please, promise me-" She didn't even get a chance to finish the sentence before Nick had her wrapped up in one of his hugs that made her warm from the tips of her toes to the ends of her fingers.

"You know I will." Nick promised her; kissing the crown of her forehead. "I promise you, Andie, they're safe with me. They always have been."

Andie lifted her head off Nick's chest and planted a kiss on his lips; a gentle kiss. "Thank you." She muttered.

"Do you want to stay here tonight?" He asked her, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

Andie nuzzled her head into Nick's neck and hugged him tightly. "I can't." She gave him another kiss; this one warmer, longer. When she pulled away, Nick was breathing as heavily as she was. "I have to go." She had to force herself to let go of Nick's comforting arms. "I'm so sorry for everything you've had to live through because of me."

Nick didn't answer. He just smiled sadly as tears filled his eyes. He'd never loved anyone as much as he loved Andie; even with all her lies and secrets, he couldn't deny that. "I love you, Andie." He said with a shrug. "And if all this hasn't changed that; then nothing will."

Andie smiled back; just as sadly. "I don't deserve you." She blew him an air kiss and then retreated into the hallway, turning her back on Nick for possibly the last time.

She considered leaving the house then; leaving them for good...but as she walked past Aaron's 'Daddy-room' she couldn't stop herself walking inside. There they were; her beautiful little angels, sleeping soundly beside each other.

Andie slowly walked into the room and knelt beside them; Jamie was the closet to her. She reached out and ran her hand across that soft, russet brown hair as tears ran down her pained face. "I love you, baby girl." She whispered, leaning in and kissing her daughter's cheek. "I love you so much." Andie reached her other hand over and touched Aaron's thin, little fingers that were settled just on his tummy. She ran her hand down the side of his face; realizing how much he looked like his mother when he slept. That just made her more determined; made her even surer that she was doing the right thing. As hard and painful as this was; it was the right thing to do. "I love you, Aaron." She muttered in a shaky voice. "And I'm so sorry...but I'm going to fix this...I'll bring her back to you." She knelt up off her knees and pressed a kiss against Aaron's forehead. She kissed Jamie one last time and then had to force herself to let go of her children and rise to her feet. Her body was so heavy; so tired from all of this. And she still wasn't finished. She paused in the doorway and looked back at her beautiful children. "Bye-bye, babies." She whispered as she closed the door.

Andie left Nick's immediately. If she stopped for one minute to think about what she was doing; she wouldn't do it. As she pulled her car into the hotel parking lot; her heart was still racing, but she was so nervous about what she had to do that, at least momentarily, she wasn't thinking about the hole in her heart where her children should be.

Desperate for something, anything, to feel something more than this heartache, Andie locked her car and began the slow walk up the staircase to Sayid's room.

**xxx**

Jin did most of the talking as he drove Jack, Hurley, Kate and Andie through the jungle. Explaining that they were part of the Dharma Initiative now, they had to lie to keep themselves safe. They were also, of all places, back in the 1970's. Something had happened to the island, it had started, what Jin called 'time-shifting'. They had been shifting from the present back to the past. It all sounded so bizarre to Jack, Kate, Hurley and Andie that they didn't have anything to add to the conversation.

What's more, was that Jin radioed through to someone else on his walkie-talkie; someone named LaFleur, who he then revealed to the group, was actually Sawyer. He was the one who had taken the lead; come up with the lie to keep them all safe. _All_, Jin revealed, where himself, Juliet, Miles and Daniel. Charlotte had perished while the island had been shifting through time, but Daniel, so saddened after her death, had taken the first submarine off the island and gone back to the mainland, leaving everyone else behind.

It was a hell of a lot of information to take in, so when Jin pulled the van up to the side of a cliff, the four each dispersed, drinking in the island air and trying to get their heads around just what was going on. They didn't have to wait too long before another car joined them.

Andie saw it in the distance, a jeep, steering towards them. She saw the driver with straight, sandy blonde hair whipping around in the wind, and realized just who it was. He parked the car; and exited the vehicle, staring in shock at Hurley, Jack, Kate and herself. Andie caught his eyes in hers, and breathed his name. "James..."

**xxx**


	10. Chapter 10: Lost 'Til You're Found

**Chapter 10: Lost 'Til You're Found **

Andie had spent three years thinking of seeing him again, what he'd say, what she'd say back, what she'd tell him about their daughter... but once she spotted him up ahead of her, removing a pair of thin glasses and gaping open-mouthed at his friends, her mind just went blank.

Hurley was the first to hug Sawyer, obviously thrilled at seeing his Southern friend again. Jack shook his hand, Kate hugged him, and then Andie was staring him in the eyes; those eyes. Jamie's eyes. "Hi," She said, shakily putting her arms around him.

"Andie..." He murmured as he squeezed her tightly.

He felt the same as she remembered, same strong shoulders, same soft skin with just that gruff mess of stubble that grazed her cheek. "You're really here." He sighed, pulling away from her but glancing her up and down, as if he was afraid she – all of them – were part of some mirage. "Son of a bitch actually did it! Locke said he was gonna bring you back, but... where is he?"

Andie look towards Kate, who cast her eyes down. "John's dead," Jack volunteered. "He's gone."

For the first time, Andie got a good look at what Sawyer and Jin were wearing. Khaki jumpsuit with a DHARMA logo sewn on the left breast pocket; Sawyer's with the title LaFleur: Head of Security stitched just below it. "What is with the jumpsuit?"

Sawyer shot a look at Jin. "You didn't tell 'em?"

"No. I was waiting for you." Jin replied; in perfect English.

"Tell us what?" Kate asked.

Sawyer took a huge breath; and as he exhaled he answered. "We're in the DHARMA Initiative."

Jack looked as puzzled as the rest of them. "They came back to the Island?"

"No. _We_ came back." Sawyer said. "And so did you. It's 1977."

Andie felt her mouth open like some Hanna-Barbera cartoon character. Time travel? _Time travel?_ What the hell was he talking about? If it was 1977... Andie was only three years old... at least she was meant to be...

Vaguely she could hear Sawyer talking more about DHARMA to Jack, with Jin chiming in where he felt necessary, but all Andie could think about was her children. She'd left them to bring back their parents; but how could she go back to that world... the seventies? Where her parents were both alive? Where Jamie and Aaron didn't exist yet...

"We have to bring you in."

Sawyer's statement snapped Andie out of her stupor. "Bring us in where?

"Back to the Barracks at DHARMAville. You can't be wandering around in the jungle with the Hostiles- The Others."

"What about everyone else from the plane?" Hurley spoke up. "They could still be out there."

"What do you mean, everyone else?"

"We didn't come back alone. Sayid was on the plane, too."Lapidus... and Sun."

Andie felt an icy feeling creep up her back. Sayid. Sun. They hadn't landed where Andie and the rest had landed. She had no idea where they were. Why hadn't they all come back together? Kate touched Andie's shoulder, snapping her out of her daydream. Jin was hurtling back to the jeep; hurriedly explaining that someone named Radzinsky would know if the plane landed, and thus would know where his wife was.

Exhaling loudly as Jin drove off, Sawyer turned to them all. "Listen, you guys gotta stay put. Don't go nowhere, don't do nothing till I can figure out how the hell to explain where you came from.

"Sawyer, wait." Andie grabbed his forearm and pulled him back "Other than you and Jin, who else is still here?"

"Just stay put; Andie," He climbed into the blue DHARMA van and started up the engine. "I'll be right back."

And with that; he was gone. Andie hadn't mentioned Jamie. Or Aaron. She realized that Sawyer hadn't mentioned Claire; but she expected to see her friend soon. She almost laughed. Claire in the DHARMA initiative? She couldn't wait to see that.

**xxx**

Sawyer's mind was a mess as he drove back into Dharmaville. He parked the van out the front of his modest little home with Juliet and went barging into their bedroom. Grabbing a tan duffle bag, he started tossing clothes in that would help disguise his friends.

She was back. Andie was back. She didn't mention their kid... had she had their kid? Was it a boy or a girl? Half of him wanted to know; the other half wanted to stash all of them away to keep them safe. Bringing in four brand new recruits was going to be a bitch to try and organize without being noticed.

Juliet; wearing a navy blue DHARMA jumpsuit from the Motor Pool, observed him from the doorway. "James?"

He zipped up the duffle in one move. "They're back."

Her gently face soured. "I'm sorry, who's back?"

"Jack, Hurley, Kate... Andie." He turned to Juliet. "They're all back."

Juliet's ocean-blue eyes bulged as she sank onto the edge of her mattress. "What?"

"I know." He set the bag of clothes on the bed. "They came back, Juliet."

Juliet's shoulders curled inwards. "Are they here now?" She asked in a low voice.

"Yeah." He grabbed a couple of shirts from Juliet's draw that he hoped would fit Andie and Kate. "They're out at the North Point, waitin' for me to tell 'em what to do."

"How did they get-?" Juliet began in a whisper.

"I'm not sure. They said they were on a plane." The look on Juliet's paling face made Sawyer stop packing. Sighing; he sat himself beside her and grasped her hand. "I don't understand it any more than you do. But they're here, and I gotta find a way to bring 'em in before somebody else finds 'em and they screw up everything we got here."

Juliet's concern disappeared from her face, and instead she became serious. "There's, um, a sub coming in this afternoon." She reminded him. "I'll make sure they're on the list."

James pecked a thank-you kiss against her cheek and stood back up; grabbing the duffle as he did so. "I'll be back soon."

Juliet could only nod as James disappeared out of their bedroom door. Her breathing was coming in quick, short puffs... they were back? Andie, the mother of _his_ child, was back? Surely this was the beginning of the end... James had seemed to confident...

_"I gotta find a way to bring 'em in before somebody else finds 'em and they screw up everything we got here."_

He'd said that mere seconds ago; yet Juliet had never forgotten his depression after Andie had gone. And when he'd found liquor at the Barracks, she'd spent the first two months on the island cleaning up empty bottles from his house, making him insanely strong coffees to get him sober, all to try and not rouse suspicion from the DHARMA folk. His behaviour didn't go unnoticed, but Juliet just lied and told everyone he had left someone back home and missed her; that seemed to keep the questions at bay.

But now questions were spinning around Juliet's frantic mind; and all of them revolved Andie and Sawyer... and their baby... They were pieces of a family. And now they were starting to come back together; rendering her completely out of the picture.

Swallowing her depression, Juliet rose to her feet, checked her hair in the mirror on the back of the bedroom door, and set about to make the arrangements that would keep their secret safe.

**xxx**

_40 hours earlier  
Los Angeles – Wednesday Morning_

When Andie crept out of Sayid's apartment very, very early that morning, she didn't wake him or bother to leave a note. He was staying behind; he'd made up his mind. Sleeping with him was a mistake, a goodbye. Her children were safe, with Nick. She had two more places to visit and then she'd be on that _damn_ Ajira plane back to that _damn_ island.

It was nearing two in the morning when Andie arrived at the first place she needed to visit. She leant on the doorbell until she heard someone fumbling to open the lock. A moment later, a tired looking Kate stared at her.

"Andie? What's wrong?" She put a hand on her friend's shoulder and coaxed her inside. "What happened? Where are the kids?"

"I'm going back." She managed to croak out.

Kate's eyes widened as she locked the door behind her. "Jack got to you." She realized

"No, not just that." Andie sighed heavily and crossed her arms over her chest. "Aaron needs his mother...and I can't leave Claire there. She's alive and alone..." She took another deep breath and willed strength to come into her voice. "I'm going to bring her back."

"I...I...I don't know what to say." Kate slumped down onto one of her couches.

"Come with me." Andie whispered, collapsing beside her.

Kate's eyes widened again. "What?"

"Jack is...unstable, Hurley's crazy and...Sayid isn't going back..." The mention of her friend's name made her mind flash back to merely a few hours before, but she pushed those thoughts out of her mind and pressed on. "I need someone I can trust to help me. I need you, Kate. Please." It was a lot to ask, Andie knew that. Kate and Jack had their own tortured history that seemed to reach its peak and rock-bottom all after they were rescued. But Andie felt weak, her heart wasn't in her anymore. It was split, between a caramel haired little girl and her pale blonde older brother. She needed someone to help her stay afloat. She didn't know Kate's decision, if she had chosen to go back, all she knew was that it was possibly the hardest for Kate to make the choice. Go back, or stay living a lie? For Andie, the answer had been slowly spreading through her body for the last three years.

Kate threaded her fingers through Andie's and squeezed, smiling through gentle tears that rimmed her eyes. "Okay." She agreed.

**xxx**

Andie slept on Kate's couch, and woke up with the sun in her eyes covered in a thick, woollen blanket. Checking her watch, Andie noted that she had a few hours to get to the airport. She had time to make her final stop.

Kate was pacing through her kitchen gnawing on her thumbnail when Andie woke up. She took one look at her, and told her to go back to sleep, that she would wake her when they had to leave. Andie declined, saying she had to stop by her house to pick up her passport. Untrue; her passport was in her purse in the backseat of her car. She showered and threw on some clothes that Kate had leant her, faded denim jeans and a fitted, reddish-brown sweatshirt. Kate offered to drive her home and back, but again Andie refused, telling her she would meet her at the airport.

Puzzled but cooperative, Kate nodded and let her leave without another question.

Andie's heart pounded in her chest as she followed the streets to the motel she'd visited only one time before. Back then, rain was bucketing down. Today, the sun shone gloriously in a clear, blue sky. Considering her fate for the afternoon, Andie could only take this perfect day as cruel, ironic joke.

Parking, Andie took some steadying breaths and reached in the back of her car, taking two important pieces of paper from her purse. The clock on her dashboard ticked passed midday. Checking her reflection in the rear-view mirror, and blanching at the sunken bags under her eyes, Andie climbed out of her car and up the metal staircase to the second floor of motel rooms. She paused out the front of the first room, raising her hand to knock and hesitating before she rapped her knuckles against the door.

After a few echoy footsteps, a beautiful, blue-eyed, blonde woman appeared. She regarded Andie with confusion, her still-healing mind taking a few seconds to process why this exhausted woman looked so familiar. "Oh." She smiled and recognition flooded across her face. "What are you doing here?"

Andie's throat went completely dry. She coughed before speaking. "Ms. Littleton, my name is Andie-"

"I know who you are." Carole said tightly. But then her face softened and she stepped aside. "Come in."

"Thank you." Andie went inside knotting her hands together.

"Your friend, Dr. Shepherd, came by here day before last." Carole said as she locked the door. "Going on and on about someone called Aaron. When I asked him who that was; he ran out of here like the room was on fire."

"He's your grandson." Andie admitted with a sad smile. "And Claire...is alive."

Carole looked furious. "What are you talking about?" She snapped. "Claire died in the plane crash."

"No, she survived." Andie assured Carole. "When the plane crashed she was eight months pregnant... and... Claire's the one who gave birth on the island; not me."

"Why?" Carole's fury turned to confusion, and then her eyes flashed with anger again. "Why would you _leave her_ there?"

Andie had no answer, no good answer. None that would satisfy a mother, Andie understood that now more than ever. She could have stayed and looked for Claire, instead she chose to save herself, her unborn child threatened by the unknown poison of that island. And instead, Claire had been forgotten. "She disappeared." Andie eventually answered with a limp shrug of her weary shoulders. "And we looked for her...but she was gone." She admitted, feeling lighter that she was finally getting this weight of truth off her chest. "And that's when I started taking care of Aaron. When we were rescued...we had to decide what to do with him..." Hot tears pricked Andie's eyes. "We couldn't let anyone find out about who we'd left behind..." She tried to take a steadying breath, but it didn't help. "I had to protect him; so I said he was mine."

Carole's eyes flamed. "Why did you lie?" She yelled in disbelief. "Why didn't you come to me in the first place?"

Andie swallowed hard. "Because_ I_ needed him." She admitted. "I'm sorry." She tugged the first piece of paper she'd retrieved from her purse in the car - a photo - out of her back pocket of her jeans. "But you're going to see that he's so sweet and kind and good." She handed Carole the picture of Aaron and Jamie sitting together on the couch .

Carole's face softened as she ran her fingers across the picture, no doubt seeing the undeniable resemblance between him and Claire. "Where is he?"

Andie cleared her throat. "When we were rescued...I went back to my boyfriend and told him that Aaron was his son. He knows the truth now, but...Aaron still thinks he's his father." She pulled out the second piece of paper with Nick's address on it and handed it to Carole. "I know this is a lot for you to handle; but when you're ready...he's waiting for you. I told Nick about you and who you are." She gulped. "And I told Aaron that you're his grandmother. That you'll...take care of him while I'm gone and that I'll be back soon."

"Where are you going?"

Andie swallowed hard, biting back a sob, and managed the tiniest of hopeful smiles. "I'm going back to find your daughter."

**xxx**


End file.
